Streamwood battles back to beat Schaumburg

An errant throw after a dropped third strike ended Schaumburg's season on Friday as the Saxons fell 5-4 to Streamwood in the Class 4A Dundee Crown regional semifinal.

With two outs in the bottom of the sixth, Schaumburg pitcher Kurt Kempema delivered strike three to his counterpart, Josh Harris. But Saxons' catcher Eric Englund was unable to handle the pitch, dropping the ball that sent Harris hustling down the first baseline.

Englund collected the ball and threw to first, but a short throw pulled first baseman Roger Lane off the ball and sent the winning run home for the Sabres.

Streamwood's victory sets up a meeting between the Sabres (23-13) and their Upstate Eight Conference and District U-46 rival South Elgin. The teams will meet at 1 p.m. on Saturday with the regional championship on the line. Neither program has ever won a regional baseball title.

Although the two coaches' opinions of the call differed, Harris said he had no doubt he was safe.

"I was right there and I know that's a tough play to decide the game on but he was just a little bit off," he said. "I think they made the right call."

Although Schaumburg (10-19) coach Paul Groot disagreed with decision, he said he wouldn't blame the umpire for the loss.

"Umpires never beat you," he said. "He missed the call but our kids should not have made the play to where it was that close. It was a very easy play to make."

The Saxons' Matt Brancato led off the second inning with a double down the left-field line and was moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Dave Geller. Kevin Hilliard then drove Brancato home with a ground ball to third to give Schaumburg a 1-0 lead.

Streamwood answered back in the bottom of the second inning on a 2-run double from left fielder Shawn Jordan. The senior later stole second and scored after a pickoff attempt at third soared over the third baseman's head to give the Sabres a 3-1 lead.

The Saxons played catch-up the rest of the way, tying the game for the second time in the top of the sixth as Joe Infusino, who was on second after hitting a two-out double, scored on a throwing error at second base to tie the game 4-4.

Sabres' first baseman Mike Diebold singled to lead off the bottom of the sixth and moved to third on Jordan's one-out single. Kempema (4-6), who completed the game, got the second out of the inning on a strikeout before the dropped third strike brought home the winning run.

"We're a young scrappy bunch," Streamwood coach Steve Diversey said. "They've worked too hard to just roll over and quit. They're going to battle all the way through."

Harris (6-4), who surrendered 4 runs and 8 hits, sent the Schaumburg hitters down in order in the seventh to earn the victory.