Baseball/Fox Valley roundup
Westminster Christian pitchers Ryan Perez and Kevin Elder did it again Saturday.
The juniors combined to throw a no-hitter for the third time in two seasons as the Warriors shut out St. Francis 3-0 in a nonconference win in Wheaton.
The ambidextrous Perez pitched the first 3 innings right-handed, then switched to his left hand for 2 innings. He struck out 9 and walked 4.
Elder (5-1) earned the victory after the Warriors rallied for 3 runs in the top of the seventh. He pitched 2 scoreless innings and struck out 6 Spartans with only 1 walk.
“They’re just special players,” Westminster Christian coach Jeff Moeller said. “No matter the situation they’ve got poise, they’ve got determination and they’ve got confidence in their stuff. They’re just fun to watch.”
Seven players collected 7 hits for the Warriors (11-5)
South Elgin sweeps Waubonsie Valley: The Storm won a pair of Upstate Eight Conference games against Valley Division leader Waubonsie Valley in a doubleheader moved to Aurora due to wet fields in South Elgin. The Storm won the first game 7-4. Leadoff hitter John Menken went 3-for-4 and scored twice, and cleanup hitter Jake Buhman homered and drove in 2 runs for the Storm. Marty Knuth (2-0) pitched 4 innings and Eric Stazy held the Warriors to 1 hit in 3 scoreless innings to earn his second save.
Menken went 2-for-3 with a home run, 3 RBI and 3 runs scored, Andrew Weedman had 3 hits and 4 RBI and Kenny Lowden hit his area-best sixth home run of the season to lead the Storm to a 14-3 rout of Waubonsie Valley (3-8, 3-2). Sophomore David Palmer (4-0) limited the Warriors to 3 runs (1 earned) on 3 hits in 5 innings for South Elgin (10-3-1, 5-3-1).Huntley 6, St. Viator 4: Bryan Doherty pitched 5 innings of 6-hit baseball as the Red Raiders won their ninth straight. Doherty (3-0) allowed 4 runs (3 earned) and struck out 4 without a walk. Craig Klein held the Lions to 1 hit in 2 scoreless innings to earn his second save. Carlos Alvarez doubled twice and scored twice, Justin Gundlach doubled and drove in 2 runs and Brody Burkhart and Bryce Only each doubled and drove in a run for Huntley (13-1).
Cary-Grove swept by McHenry: Senior shortstop Michael Vilardo hit 2 home runs and finished with 9 RBI, but Cary-Grove pitching couldn#146;t protect an 18-6 lead as the Warriors rallied for 6 runs in the fifth inning and 7 runs in the sixth to win the first game of a doubleheader 19-18. Pat Maher went 3-for-3 with 4 RBI for the Warriors. Matt DiCicco (0-2) took the loss for the Trojans.
McHenry (8-8, 7-3) took a 7-0 lead in Game 2 and never looked back. Matt Dunlap took the loss for Cary-Grove (10-6, 7-3). Vilardo hit his third home run of the afternoon and drove in a pair.
College baseball
ECC splits: The Elgin Community College baseball team beat Prairie State 4-3 in the opener before dropping the second game of a doubleheader 8-2. Andy Gruenwald (6-1) picked up the win, allowing just 3 hits and 3 walks in 6 innings. He notched 6 strikeouts. Brett Loeding earned his eighth save. Justin Kalusa and Brady Renner each homered.
Tom Roth tripled and Justin Kalusa and Craig Lipp doubled, but the Spartans were held to 6 hits by Prairie State in an 8-2 loss in Game 2. Luc Geier (2-3) took the loss for the Spartans (25-9, 7-5).
Judson wins 3: In a rare tripleheader, the Judson University baseball team took all three CCAC games from Trinity International University to improve to 34-13 and 18-7 in the CCAC. Judson won the games, 14-6, 5-2, and 4-2.
Johnny Amann led Judson with a 4-of-6 performance on the day with 8 RBI. Andy Parsill had 6 RBI and a home run. Brian Brauer, Matt McHenry, Parsill, and Amann all had home runs. Parsill had the game-winning home run in game three as a pinch hitter in the top of the seventh inning. Ben Palmer and Ryan Pollock each pitched complete game wins while Jack Zappia won game three as T.J. Swank earned his fourth save of the year. Palmer recorded 5 strikeouts in game one and Pollock had 8 strikeouts in game two.