South Elgin piles it on Elgin twice

Dan Heine doesn't get many at-bats for the South Elgin baseball team.

The junior didn't waste the ones he got Saturday.

Heine went 3-for-3 and drove in 5 runs in the second game of the doubleheader to help the Storm to a 13-1 five-inning victory over host Elgin. The Storm clobbered the Maroons, 22-0, in five innings in the opener.

"I don't get in too much so I try to take advantage of the opportunities I get at the plate," said Heine, who caught the second game. "We practice a lot. Even if we don't get in a lot, we still get in on all the practices. We're still pretty fair in practice. It's pretty easy (to stay sharp)."

South Elgin (15-4, 10-3 Upstate Eight) has now won eight straight and outscored Elgin 51-3 in the three-game series.

The Maroons (4-15, 3-10) took their first lead of the series in the bottom of the first in the second game. Javier Cárdenas, who had 3 hits on the day, singled to lead off and scored on a Storm error.

Heine singled to led off the Storm second. Courtesy runner John Menken eventually scored on a wild pitch to tie the game. In the third, Kyle Deroo scored on another wild pitch and Heine drove in Drew Buddle with another single for a 3-1 Storm lead.

South Elgin scored seven times in the fourth. The big blow was a three-run triple to right center from Heine. Heine also hit a sacrifice fly to drive in a run in a three-run fifth.

Buddle, Dillon Gardner, Nick Schweisthal and Deroo also drove in runs in the second game.

"We should have a little confidence going right now," Storm coach Jim Kating said. "We're going into our toughest stretch. We're going to need some of these."

In the opener, Kenny Lowden went 4-for-4 with a home run and 6 RBI. Menken also homered and drove in four. Nathan Halas drove in three. Kyle Kinyon went 4-for-4 as the Storm pounded out 26 hits. Schweisthal and Ryan Hicks each had 2 RBI.

"We have a deep, deep team," Lowden said. "We have a lot of people who can contribute equally."

Schweisthal (2-1) and Tyler Walker (2-0) picked up wins for the Storm. Schweisthal struck out seven in 4 innings in the opener. Walker allowed just 2 hits in 4 innings in the second game.

Jacobs Meyer (0-4) and DJ Raggio (0-5) suffered the losses. Gage Teschner had 2 hits in the first game for the Maroons, who had 8 hits in the two games.

"Not much went well for us," said Maroons assistant coach Randy Hammer, who coach the team after head coach David Foerster was thrown out of the opening game. "We're not getting enough people on and when we're getting them on, we're not getting them in."