Wrap: Huskies squeeze Knights from lead
Hersey fell out of the Mid-Suburban East baseball title race at the halfway mark.
But the Huskies plan to have a say in who reaches next week's finish line first.
They did Thursday as they manufactured 3 runs in the top of the seventh inning to squeeze out a 7-6 victory that knocked host Prospect out of the division lead.
"We've definitely been playing better lately," said senior center fielder Bobby Gehm of Hersey's sixth win in 7 games. "Obviously we're out of the race to win the division but our goal is to sweep the second round of the East."
Prospect (12-11, 8-5), which was poised for its third East comeback win of the week, hopes that happens.
Hersey (13-12, 5-8) finishes Wednesday with Rolling Meadows (13-7, 8-4), which is at Buffalo Grove today and hosts Elk Grove in a makeup at 11 a.m. Saturday.
Prospect rallied from a 3-0 deficit for a 4-3 lead on Miles Osei's 2-run single in the fifth but Hersey tied it in the sixth. After Tim Scanlan (3-for-3) was intentionally walked with one out, catcher Shane Uhle smacked a tie-breaking 2-run double to right-center.
But Tom O'Shea beat out an infield single and Matt Frenzer lined an 0-2 pitch to right for a single to start the Hersey seventh.
"You could tell as soon as we got the hits we had totally different energy," Gehm said.
With runners at second and third, Mike Schmadebeck made it 6-5 with an RBI groundout to second. That brought up Gehm, who was 0-for-4 with 2 strikeouts.
On a 1-2 pitch from John Coen, Gehm dropped a perfect suicide squeeze bunt between the mound and first base for a tying single.
"If anybody can handle that spot I knew he could," Hersey coach Bob Huber said of the speedy third-year varsity player and leadoff man.
"I was doing terrible today so I was almost glad he did," Gehm said of Huber's squeeze call. "I wasn't surprised at all he gave it to me."
Gehm stole second and went to third on a wild throw. Matt Milligan's fly to left was deep enough to score Gehm with the go-ahead run.
"With 2 strikes I wanted to do whatever I could to get the run in," said Milligan, who finished the win with 2 strikeouts in a perfect seventh. "As long as I got it in the outfield I knew Bob was going to score."
Conant 4, Elk Grove 0: Austin Wright (3-2) threw a 1-hit shutout as Conant (8-10, 5-7) beat visiting Elk Grove (11-13, 5-7) in the MSL crossover.
Bobby Colucci homered and had 2 RBI and Mark Chereso tripled for Conant.
Hoffman 9, Wheeling 8: Hoffman Estates (8-9, 4-7) improved to 3-3 in extra-inning games as it won the suspended game on Chris Fett's RBI single in the bottom of the ninth.
The game resumed in the top of the eighth in an 8-8 tie. Winning pitcher Pat Johnson pitched 2 innings and was aided by 2 double plays.
Matt St. John opened the ninth with a double to set up Fett. Matt Holmes had hit a 3-run homer in the suspended portion of the game for Wheeling (5-11, 5-8).
Maine West 11, Deerfield 6: Winning pitcher James Ward allowed only 1 run in 5 innings as Maine West (12-5, 9-4) broke open a 1-1 Central Suburban North game with a 6-run fifth at Deerfield.
Sean Willett had 3 doubles and 3 RBI in 5 at-bats, Tommy Ross went 3-for-4, Ryan Tuntland was 2-for-4 with 4 RBI and Mike Santa Maria went 2-for-4 as Maine West opened an 11-1 lead after 5½ innings.
Meadows 8, Notre Dame 6: A 4-run sixth gave Dan Hoppel his first varsity win and helped Rolling Meadows (13-7) break a 3-game losing streak.
Hoppel struck out the only hitter he faced in the sixth. Ted Metzger drove in 2 runs with an infield single and Kyle Gaedele broke the tie with an RBI double.
Gaedele pitched a hitless seventh for the save.
Downers S. 8, Leyden 2: Downers Grove South (22-6, 12-3) avoided the 3-game sweep to stay in the West Suburban Gold hunt with Leyden (18-4, 13-2) and Hinsdale South (11-4 WSG).
Leyden is at Willowbrook for a Saturday double-header and hosts the finale of the 3-game series and WSG schedule Tuesday. Downers South and Hinsdale South also finish with a 3-game series.