Baseball: Hoffman Estates beats the rain, Elgin thanks to move

With the weather forecast calling for rain Saturday, Hoffman Estates baseball coach Andrew Wulbecker wanted to do what he could to play his club’s nonconference game versus Elgin.

He reached out to Wheaton Academy coach Justin Swider and asked if the Hawks’ contest could get moved over to the Wheaton Academy diamond, which has a turf infield that could sustain a game played under a light rain.

Swider said yes, and both the Hawks and Maroons made the trek to West Chicago for a rescheduled early afternoon start at Warrior Field.

“I was able to switch it over there since I have a good relationship with their coach,” Wulbecker said of his relocated game.

For Tyler Dillon, one of his senior tri-captains, it's an arrangement that comes with the territory.

“Some days you never know where you're going to play,” said Dillon, an outfielder/pitcher. “Days like today, we're lucky to come out here and play some baseball and you always got to be ready.”

Ready they were.

Thanks to a 7-run third inning that broke the game open, Hoffman Estates won 8-0 to even its mark to 4-4 on the season.

“Our team is always ready to go, especially this year,” Dillon said. “We've got a great group.”

After having left runners in scoring position over the first two innings, the Hawks broke through in the bottom half of the third, starting with sophomore third baseman Joaquin Carrasquillo reaching base thanks to a fielding error.

After he scored when fellow sophomore and catcher Nolan Nguyen reached base on an infield single, Dillon broke the game open with a 2-run single for a 3-0 lead.

After a pair of walks and a second fielding miscue expanded the Hoffman Estates advantage to 6-0, Carrasquillo closed the onslaught with an RBI sacrifice fly.

He added another RBI sac fly in the bottom of the fifth to close the scoring.

Dillon, who was preceded by sophomore Mason Walker and succeeded by senior Derek Conjardi in teaming up to shut out the Maroons (2-2), struck out 5 in three innings of work. He knew maintaining focus was key.

“I knew I had to come in and lock it (up) and I knew I had to be strong for my team and see what I could do,” Dillon said.

For Elgin first-year coach Zachary Fasick, he sees the glass half-full for his team that earlier in the week won its Upstate Eight West opener with a home shutout against East Aurora.

“The (division) sets up that we're going to be a (challenging) matchup for quite a few teams, so the boys are excited. They see with what we're practicing with everyday. We have a little bit to work with here, so it will be an exciting year,” Fasick said.