Glenbrook North edges Hoffman Estates

A 4-1 loss to Glenbrook North did not diminish the optimism Hoffman Estates’ baseball team had found during a three-game winning streak.

For six innings Monday afternoon the host Hawks pitching and defense kept them right with a team emerging as one of the Central Suburban North favorites. A 2-run single in the seventh by Sean Thomas (2-for-4) put the Spartans (10-1) on the way to their eighth straight victory.

“This is one of the best teams we’ve faced all season,” said Hoffman senior Trent Rehusch, who combined with junior Brian Cvitkovich to allow only 2 earned runs. “We played well but we needed more to beat these guys.”\

Rehusch gave up a run on singles to Charlie Apfelbach, Brett Synek and Thomas to start the game. But the right-hander got his changeup and curve working with his fastball to allow only an unearned run and 3 more hits in his 4 innings.

Hoffman (3-7) committed its only error to start the seventh, which led to an unearned run off Cvitkovich.

“Our pitching was great but we gave them 2 runs,” said Hoffman coach Todd Meador, whose team had allowed only 3 runs in its winning streak. “The difference between them an us is they got the big hit with runners in scoring position and we didn’t.”

Hoffman’s best chance against Glenbrook North lefty Jason Pomeroy (3-0) came in the fourth. Kevin Grudzinski singled and scored on a passed ball, wild pitch and a one-out single by Rehusch (2-for-3).

Riley Mugerditichian singled but Pomeroy got 2 of his 5 strikeouts — the latter leaving runners at second and third. Pomeroy threw 59 of his 80 pitches for strikes and scattered 7 hits before Peter Resnick pitched a perfect seventh.

“It was very typical for him,” said first-year GBN coach Dominic Savino of Pomeroy. “He works down in the zone and uses the defense behind him and he did a great job of doing that today.

“I was very pleased with our (offensive) approach the first inning through the last inning. We made a lot of hard outs and Hoffman played extremely well defensively.”

Second baseman Mark Roberts snagged a liner to start a double play in the first and shortstop Kevin Grudzinski made a diving backhand catch of a liner in the fourth. Kevin Tednes also made a pair of nice grabs of line drives.

“Our defense was spectacular today and really kept us in this game,” Rehusch said. “That’s really what’s been carrying us, pitching and defense.”

Adding in a little more offense could result in a successful mix for Hoffman.

Buffalo Grove 8, Maine South 1: Kevin Dembinski and Jesus Sanchez combined on a 6-hitter as Buffalo Grove (5-6) snapped a four-game losing streak.

Dembinski (3-2) allowed an unearned run in the first and 3 hits. Sanchez had his fourth straight scoreless outing.

Tommy Ricciardi (2-for-4) had a bases-clearing double in a 5-run third and Jimmy Barton had a 2-run double in the fifth. Trevor Myers and Jake Monson had 2 hits apiece.

Leyden 5, Addison Trail 3: Leyden’s perfect start was in jeopardy as it trailed 3-1 going into the bottom of the sixth inning.

But John Marino’s leadoff homer sparked a 4-run rally for the Eagles (8-0, 5-0) in the West Suburban Gold. Justin Stawychny (3-0) threw a 3-hitter with 5 strikeouts and 5 walks.

After Marino’s homer, Eric Palmer doubled and scored the tying run on Carlos Olavarria’s single. Matt Jeske sacrificed Olavarria to second and he scored on an RBI single by Eli Perez.

Fremd 19, Prairie Ridge 0: Fremd (4-6) winner Joe Leaf allowed only 3 hits with 6 strikeouts and 2 walks in the five-inning victory. Zach Kolakowski was 3-for-3 with a double and 3 RBI and Lee Breitzman had 2 doubles.

Warren 6, Prospect 3: Steve Dazzo had a 1-hit shutout and faced the minimum through six innings in his first start for Prospect (8-2).

But a pair of groundball errors to start the seventh led to a 6-run outburst for Warren. Five runs off Dazzo (0-1) were unearned.

“Steve was incredible,” said Prospect coach Ross Giusti after the senior had 10 strikeouts and allowed only a third-inning single until the seventh. “It was one of the top 10 pitching performances I’ve seen since I’ve been here.”

Peter Bonahoom went 3-for-3 with 2 doubles and an RBI and Brad Gerdes had an RBI single for the Knights.

New Trier 7, St. Viator 6: Nick Prazuch homered and Brian Wilhite was 2-for-4 but a 2-run rally in the bottom of the seventh by St. Viator (5-4) fell short.

Niles West 4, Barrington 2: Barrington fell to 0-11 with the nonconference loss.