Buffalo Grove rallies past Rolling Meadows

Buffalo Grove rallied for an extremely satisfying Mid-Suburban East baseball victory Wednesday against Rolling Meadows.

The Bison, playing at home on a cold, blustery day, came back from an early 7-run deficit to defeat the Mustangs 8-7.

BG was able to get a little revenge after losing on the road to Meadows on Tuesday by a count of 9-3.

"It was sloppy, but we'll take it," said Bison coach Tim Miller. "This is a big confidence-builder."

Senior pitcher Ryan Deutsch got the win for Buffalo Grove, coming on in the fourth inning and shutting down the Mustangs.

"All the talk was about protecting our home field," said Deutsch. "We got down but we were never out of it. We battled back."

Rolling Meadows opened the scoring with 7 runs in the top of the third thanks to timely hitting, smart base running and some shaky play in the field by BG.

The Mustangs' Ryan Laboda, Sean O'Brien, Brett Gibson, Trent McNally, Luka Pavlakis and Jack O'Neill all contributed with RBI in the inning.

"We had a couple of timely hits," said Meadows coach Lindeman, "but basically they just handed us 7 runs. They were not fielding the ball very well."

Buffalo Grove struck back with 3 runs in the bottom of the third, helped by base hits from Joey Pinakidis, Trey Cervantes, Zach Fricke and John Carpinelli.

"I thought Carpinelli had a real nice game at the plate," said Miller.

The Bison trailed 7-4 going into the bottom of the sixth, when senior outfielder Mike Kleczynski and Pinakidis opened the frame with walks.

RBI hits from Carpinelli, third baseman Ben Moran and Cervantes tied the game. Then the Bison scored the lead run on a Meadows error.

The Mustangs had two base runners in the top of the seventh but relief pitcher Justin Hasek came on to get the final out.

Deutch's splendid performance in adverse conditions included retiring 10 of the 12 batters he faced, keeping the Bison in the game until the home team bats came alive.

"It was an awesome win today," said Deutsch. "I just tried to come in and pound the zone, get strikes and get them to hit the ball in the air."

Carpinelli had a double and 2 singles for BG, while O'Neill had 3 hits for Meadows as the Bison improved to 2-3 in conference, while Meadows fell to 1-4.

After the game, Lindemann refused to lay any of the blame for the loss on the cold, raw setting.

"This is Chicago weather," said Lindemann. "Most of these guys have been playing in it for at least 14 years. It was just bad baseball."

Schaumburg 2, Hoffman Estates 1: Junior Jack Bellinger pitched a complete game, helping host Schaumburg hold off Hoffman Estates to sweep their two-game set.

Bellinger allowed 4 hits and struck out nine, keeping the Hawks off the scoreboard after allowing a run in the second inning.

Ryan Ward also pitched well for Hoffman Estates (9-5, 1-3) as Schaumburg finished with 6 hits. Three of those went for extra bases as Tyler Teele, Alex Kiszkowski and Brendan Beck doubled.

Schaumburg improved to 2-2 in the MSL West.

Barrington 13, Palatine 3 (5 inn.): The host Broncos used an impressively powerful performance to win a second straight against the Pirates in MSL West play.

Jake Coon, Jacob Chapman, Anthony DeLaurentis and Jimmy Day each hit home runs for Barrington (13-6, 4-0), which produced a 10-run fifth inning to end it early. Coon drove in 3 runs, Day drove in 2 and Mitch Pfeiffer, Casey Dodge, Coon, DeLaurentis and Chapman all finished with 2 hits.

Brooks Gosswein earned the victory after allowing 1 earned run in 5 innings.

Matt Lamm and Danny Schneberger both had 2 hits for Palatine (6-11, 0-4).

Prospect 14, Wheeling 8: The visiting Knights trailed 8-4 after the fifth inning before producing a sixth inning for the record book.

Lucas Karz and Trey Compton both hit grand slams in Prospect's 10-run inning as the Knights (14-4, 3-1) more than erased their deficit on their way to a third straight win against MSL East foes.

Jack Courtney hit a home run, Jake Cavaiani doubled and drove in 2 runs and Patrick Donohue had 2 hits for Prospect.

Wheeling's Brenden Spillane homered and had 2 hits, while Christian Hubbard and Alex Khatcherian also had 2-hit efforts for Wheeling (6-10, 1-3).

Willie Sampson earned a win in relief for Prospect.

St. Viator 7, Carmel 4: Dan Sullivan continued his hot hitting, this time in the clutch.

The junior's 3-run home in the bottom of the seventh inning lifted the Lions to a second straight East Suburban Catholic Conference win over Carmel.

Ben Dickey went 3-for-4 with a triple and a pair of steals, and Matt Darling and Sullivan both had 2 hits. George Burny, the last of five pitchers for the Lions (13-5, 2-2), earned a victory.

Conant 9, Fremd 5: Anthony Forte and Jack Reiger both went 3-for-4 in the heart of Conant's batting order as the host Cougars earned a two-game split with the Vikes in MSL West play.

Forte doubled and tripled, and Matt Fauth and Jack Lunkes had 2 hits apiece for Conant, which got a complete-game win for Matt Mills.

Ethan Hajdukovic doubled and drove in 2 runs for Fremd (9-7, 2-2).

Elk Grove 10, Hersey 0 (6 inn.): Jonathan Maday was tough on the Huskies, allowing only 3 hits in a 6-inning complete game win.

He got plenty of run support as Matt Wary, Brandon Post, Taylor O'Connor, A.J. Lorenz and Joe Lopez had doubles as part of an 18-hit attack for Elk Grove (11-4, 3-1). Christian Camacho, Austin Shallcross, Sean Fege, Jack McEnroe, Wary and Post each finished with 2 hits.

Luther North 7, Christian Liberty 3: The Chargers were out-hit as Luther North earned a Northeastern Athletic Conference win.