Baseball: Rolling Meadows blasts Barrington

Tyler Stankiewicz was the only batter in the Rolling Meadows lineup that did not get on base Friday.

But that did not matter much to him.

Stankiewicz was solid in the mound, throwing his first complete game of the season while limiting Barrington to six hits as Meadows rolled past the Broncos 11-3.

“I was aware that I didn’t get on base,” said Stankiewicz, who let his defense feed on lazy fly balls and routine ground balls. “I really give all the credit to my defense. I was throwing a lot of strikes and letting them make all the plays.”

Stankiewicz made just one mistake and that came in the top of the first.

Will Steffens stayed hot for Barrington (10-7), which had its four-game winning streak broken. Steffens, who homered Thursday against Schaumburg, belted a two-run homer to right center scoring Kayden Schumaker to give the Broncos an early 2-0 lead.

Meadows (12-5), which did not play well Wednesday in its loss to Schaumburg, came right back.

The Mustangs parlayed a single by Luke Schneider and hit batters to Quinn Hextall and Tony Romanacce to load the bases with no outs.

Jack O’Callaghan and Joe Brigham followed with walks to force in a run and tie the game at 2-2. After an out, Will Fiore hit an infield ground ball and the Barrington errant throw to the plate allowed two runs to score, giving Meadows a 4-2 lead.

“We were seeing the ball well and making good choices at the plate,” Schneider said. “We came out strong and just made plays.”

The Mustangs added another run in the second. Schneider singled and went to second on a passed ball and to third on a wild pitch. He scored on Romanacce’s ground out to increase the lead to 5-2.

Those runs gave Stankiewicz more confidence.

“When the offense is hitting and scoring runs, it is much easier to pitch,” Stankiewicz said.

Barrington cut the deficit to 5-3 in the fourth. Steffens led off with a single and went to second on a passed ball and to third on a wild pitch. He came home on Joseph Mueller’s pop out to short right field.

Meadows hit the Broncos with another four-run outburst in the fifth to help put the game away. Hextall and Romanacce each singled to start the inning. After an out, Joe Brigham put down a perfect bunt single to load the bases.

An infield error by Barrington off the bat of Meadows’ Josh Rappa allowed a pair of runs to score. Ben Kusumpa later followed with a single to drive in two more runs for a 9-3 lead.

Meadows added its final two runs in its next at-bat. Brigham got hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to score Hextall, who had reached on his second hit of the game. Romanacce scored on a fielder’s choice by Rappa.

“I am really proud of our effort all across the board,” Rolling Meadows coach Niko Klebosits said. “I really think our guys responded well. We showed growth and the ability to make adjustments. And it all started on the mound with Tyler (Stankiewicz). He just goes out there every time and competes.”

Barrington coach Paul Belo was disappointed.

“We got beat in every phase of the game,” Belo said. “We jump out and get a lead and it puts us in a good position. And then it just went sideways. They played an outstanding game.”