South Elgin blows away Dundee-Crown

A batter couldn't have asked for much more Thursday - at least if you were a member of the South Elgin baseball team.

With the wind blowing out to left field, the Storm scored 18 runs in the first three innings to pound Dundee-Crown, 18-4, in five innings in South Elgin.

"The wind is blowing out. Everything is a dream," said Storm junior Nathan Halas, who drove in 5 runs. "A perfect day for a hitter."

South Elgin (5-0) scored 5 runs in the first, getting RBI from four different players. The Storm added 3 unearned runs in the second on just 2 hits.

The first 10 Storm batters reached and scored in the third. Kenny Lowden led off the inning with a solo home run to left-center off Chris Gorman (0-1). The junior also capped the scoring with a 3-run blast to left off Cory Volberding. Both would have been home runs even if the wind wasn't blowing out to left.

"I was looking dead red and I got it," Lowden said.

Halas went 2-for-3 with a 2-run single in the second and a 3-run triple in the third. Lowden was 3-for-3 with the 4 RBI. Nathan Garris and Dillon Gardner each added 2 RBI. Robbie Green scored 3 runs for South Elgin.

"Up and down our lineup people are contributing," Storm coach Jim Kating said. "When start getting that 1 through 9 and you play defense and get solid pitching, you can be dangerous."

Drew Buddle picked up his first victory of the season, pitching 3 innings. The senior only allowed 2 infield hits and struck out two.

The Chargers (3-3) picked up 3 runs in the fourth and another in the fifth. Steve Schwartz, Kirk Hanselmann, Zach Vodicka and Jake Romano each had an RBI. Vodicka was the only Charger with 2 hits.

"Our approach offensively was not very good and defensively was even worse," D-C coach Jon Sawyer said. "For whatever reason, things didn't go great at the beginning. We hang our heads and pout and feel sorry for ourselves instead of fighting back and realizing the wind is blowing out at 80 knots; five runs isn't a whole lot of runs."