Cook County baseball notes: Maine South, St. Viator celebrate conference titles

Northwest Cook County is home this season to champions.

The area boasts traditional division champions Barrington and Schaumburg in the Mid-Suburban League. And with the new conference format, that will include division runners-up Prospect and Rolling Meadows.

Barrington beat Meadows 2-0 on Monday and Prospect beat Schaumburg 10-1 on Tuesday. The winners will battle for the MSL conference title which will be decided Thursday at Barrington.

Adding to the MSL teams, Maine South won the Central Suburban League South title, and St. Viator tied for the East Suburban Catholic Conference title.

CSL: After winning the CSL South in 2021, 2022 and 2023, the Hawks are back on top again. The Hawks followed up their South title by beating CSL North champion Highland Park 7-0 on Monday night at Wintrust Stadium in Schaumburg.

Maine South completed the South conference schedule with a record of 11-4 to finish one game ahead of both Glenbrook North and Glenbrook South. The Hawks had tough battles with both teams.

“The Glenbrook South games were tough,” said Maine South coach Brian Lorenz. “One of the cool stories was that when we played Glenbrook North we were down 4 with 2 outs and nobody on and scored 5 runs. Honestly, our belief is that the game is not over until the final out. We have a lot of experienced players who have been contributing on varsity for a few years mixed with newcomers.”

Evan Adamczewski leads Maine South from the plate batting .385 with six homers and 21 RBI. Nate Cera is hitting .374 with four homers, Luke Stojakovic .372 with a team-leading 26 RBI. Sean Sladky is batting .341 and Gavin Krischke .292.

Connor Griffin is the top hurler with an ERA of 1.11 and has 44 strikeouts in 38 innings. Henry Murphy has 43 strikeouts in 30.1 innings and an ERA of 3.92 while Sam Higgins is 3-0 and Russell Hengels is 2-1.

ESCC: The Lions finished tied with Marist at 11-5 for the conference title in the final season of the East Suburban Catholic Conference. The ESCC will be merging with the Chicago Catholic League next year.

“We are sad to see the East Suburban Conference go as it has been one of the best baseball conferences in the state,” said Viator coach Terry Beyna, whose team last won the ESCC in 2022. “We are honored and proud to have Saint Viator's name mentioned as one of its last baseball champions.”

Brandon Thomsen leads the Lions in hitting. The senior, who is committed to Purdue, is batting .489 with 9 homers and 49 RBI. He has also walked 33 times.

Tanner Beyna is hitting .440 with 28 RBI and 42 runs scored, Jacob Oberwise is at .356 with 22 RBI, Alec Harar .342 with 41 runs scored, Jack Corliss .320 and Tommy Beyna .313 with 25 RBI.

Mark Clary is 4-1 this season and has been a workhorse with 58.1 innings and 59 strikeouts with a 1.68 ERA. Corliss is 5-0 with 40 IP and 41 strikeouts and a 0.95 ERA. Kiernan Smith has thrown 39.1 innings and has an ERA of 3.20 while Tanner Beyna has an ERA of 1.81.

“We are so proud of how our team performed and refused to quit throughout the year,” Terry Beyna said. “This group worked relentlessly, demonstrated great character, stayed together through every challenge, and benefited from contributions from every player on our roster.”

Szpiganowicz injured: Conant’s Jacob Szpiganowicz suffered a severe injury last Monday against Schaumburg, but the senior catcher said the injury will not force him to miss playing for the Polish national team.

Szpiganowicz singled in the game-winning run again Schaumburg. As he crossed first base he got tangled up and fell to the ground. He suffered an injury which was later diagnosed as a fractured fibula.

“Thankfully, it is a fibula fracture,” Szpiganowicz said. “It’s not too bad. So, I will be able to make it and play on time.”

Szpiganowicz, who is a three-year starter for the Cougars, had been invited to play on Poland’s under-18 team in Italy and Poland’s under-23 team which is playing in Germany. Szpiganowicz is scheduled to leave for Europe the first week of July.

Postseason outlook: The state series is scheduled to begin play next week. Nearly all the MSL teams are grouped together in the same sectional in 4A. The only exception is Barrington, which is in the McHenry sectional.

But unlike Barrington, the other 11 MSL schools do not have a host for their sectional. As of May 18, the Illinois High School Association has yet to have a school volunteer as a host site for the sectionals.

“Someone will step up,” said Sam Knox, who is an assistant executive director for the IHSA and the director in charge of baseball.

“It is frustrating it comes down to this. There are actually two sectionals in 4A that we are looking for hosts for.”

Meanwhile, there are sites for the regionals. And the hopes are that a site for the sectionals will be determined before the regional finals May 30.

Fremd, which finished third in the MSL West, was the top-seeded team in the TBD sectional. The Vikings will be playing at the Buffalo Grove regional. Fremd will face the winner of Monday’s play-in game between No. 13 Buffalo Grove and 19th seed Waukegan.

Prospect will have the most intriguing first round game. The Knights, who are the fifth seed, will be facing No. 12 Schaumburg on May 27 — the third meeting between the teams in a 12-day period.

The winner of that game will face the winner of No. 4 Mundelein and No. 14 Hersey in the regional final.

Palatine is hosting a regional. The No. 7 Pirates will face off against 10th-seeded Lake Zurich on May 27. Warren, which is the second seed, will play the winner of No. 15 Wheeling and 18th seed Zion Benton.

Hoffman Estates will host the final regional in the TBD sectional. The No. 17 Hawks will 16th seed Elk Grove on Memorial Day. The winner will then face the sectional’s top seed and defending 4A state champion Libertyville on May 27. The next day will feature No. 9 Rolling Meadows vs. eighth seed Stevenson.

Over in the Bartlett sectional, Maine South has the No. 2 seed. The Hawks will be hosting their own regional and will play the winner of Monday’s play-in game between 15th seed West Chicago and No. 18 Proviso East.

Barrington, which won the MSL West, was surprisingly awarded the fifth seed in their subsectional of the McHenry sectional. The Broncos will host a regional and face No. 4 St. Charles East on May 28. The winner will most likely meet top-seeded McHenry in the regional final.

At the Bartlett sectional, 16th seed Maine East will host 17th seed Maine West on Memorial Day with the winner playing top-seeded and regional host Willowbrook on May 27. Leyden, which is the 14th seed, will host Proviso West next Monday at 11 a.m. hoping to advance to play host Bartlett on May 27.

In 3A, St. Viator was awarded the second seed in the Grayslake Central sectional. The Lions will be at the Crystal Lake Central regional facing 15th seed Woodstock North May 27.