Baseball: Daly, Palatine bounce Barrington

Evan Daly and Palatine stiffed Barrington on Monday.

Daly, who began the season on the bench with stiffness in his shoulder, is showing that he is fully recovered. The senior went the distance in Palatine's 9-3 win over the Broncos.

"I felt great out there," said Daly, who improved to 4-0 on the year. "I was just trying to get ahead of batters. And the run support helped too."

Daly allowed 7 hits while striking out three. He made key pitches when needed, getting Barrington to hit into a pair of double plays to end threats.

Palatine coach Paul Belo said Daly's location was key to his success on Monday.

"His changeup showed up a lot better today," Belo said. "I think what he did better than he did all year was he was able to spot in and out."

Palatine (18-10, 9-4) stayed alive in the MSL West race. The Pirates still trail Barrington (18-4-2, 12-1) by 3 games, with 3 conference games remaining, including Wednesday's rematch at Barrington.

"We still have a chance," Belo said. "It is an outside chance, but still a chance. We will put the next game on us and see what happens from there."

Palatine grabbed a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second.

Matt Helms, who will play at Augustana next year, doubled with one out. After Max Myszka walked, the pair moved up on a wild pitch. Luke Stoffel drove them both in with a two-out, two-strike single to center.

"I was just really focused on trying to rip the seams," said Helms, who had 2 hits. "We are just trying to keep the energy up."

Stoffel said Palatine, which had 10 hits as a team, trusted their plate approach better.

"We are swinging the bats better," said Stoffel, who also had 2 hits. "We just tried to follow our approach and trust our coaches."

Barrington scored a run in the third and another in the fifth to tie the game.

Clark Elliott had an RBI single in the third, driving in Tyler Acosta, who'd been hit by a pitch and stolen second. David Mitchell walked with the bases loaded in the fifth to score Jake Horcher, who had singled.

Palatine then broke the game open in their half of the inning. The Pirates plated 7 runners thanks to just 3 hits. They capitalized on 3 Barrington walks, a wild pitch and 3 errors, including a dropped two-out pop up.

"We were fortunate that we capitalized on their miscues," Belo said. "That allowed us to separate ourselves from them. It was one of those things where we were patiently aggressive. We didn't bite on the edge with pitches."

Barrington coach Pat Wire said his team had not experienced an inning like that all season.

"It just seemed like that all the things that could accumulate in one season, happened in just one inning," Wire said. "That's baseball. That is part of the reason that it happens. It's ugly, but we will be fine."

Jack Hopper and TJ Skelnik both had a pair of hits and a RBI for Palatine.

Mitchell had 3 hits and Elliott 2 for Barrington.