Baseball: Elgin downs Streamwood

The Elgin High baseball team has had its fair share of difficulties over the last few years against Streamwood pitcher Colin Caminitti. On Friday the Maroons were finally able to turn the tables on the Sabres' right-hander.

Elgin exploded for 7 runs in the fifth inning to chase Caminitti from the game and went on to defeat Streamwood 9-6 in Upstate Eight Conference action. The Sabres had won the first two games of the 3-game series between the two teams.

"We know how tough Caminitti can be," Elgin coach David Foerster said. "We have faced him a bunch. The key is not trying to do too much. We were focused on just making contact and going middle and away. We have a lot more success when we are not trying to pull the ball."

Elgin had managed just 2 hits through the first 4 innings against Caminitti and trailed 2-0. However Robert Bartlett, Cameron Kendall, Payton Reynolds and John Fortmann strung together 4 straight singles for the Maroons to start the fifth inning. The single by Fortmann plated the Maroons' first run.

Elgin (5-13, 2-8) then took a 3-2 lead when a throwing error by the Sabres scored 2 runs. The Maroons continued to tack onto the lead with RBI singles from Jack Sitter and Matthew Turner. A balk and a ground ball by Bartlett brought in the other two Maroons runs in the inning.

"We all just got hot that inning," Fortmann said. "We have faced (Caminitti) a lot and after a couple times through the order we knew what was coming and got some better swings. Once we got a couple of hits it started to build some momentum for us."

Fortmann went 3-for-4, including another RBI single in a 2-run sixth inning.

"My coaches have been talking to me about waiting on pitches more," Fortmann said. "I think I stayed back better today."

Tim Mitchell added an RBI double in the sixth inning for the Maroons as they stretched their lead to 9-2.

"Credit our kids for not getting down when we struggled early on," Foerster said. "Once we got going the hitting got contagious. We weren't content with just a few runs. We kept adding on."

Sitter started on the mound for the Maroons and had a solid outing. He allowed just 2 runs over 5 innings to get the win,

The Sabres (9-9, 3-7) rallied for 4 runs in the seventh inning with help from 2 walks, a hit batter, and a couple errors, but it was too little too late.

'We had the one bizarre inning with the circus play that cleared the bases and that gave them a lot of momentum," Streamwood coach Ryan Lasota said. "I'm proud of the way we battled back at the end."

Anthony Caruso had an RBI double for the Sabres.