Solid pitching big plus for Elk Grove

How Elk Grove would defend its first Cook County American Legion baseball title was a big question because of heavy personnel losses.

So far the answers have been encouraging for the Red Sox as they are off to an 8-5 start overall and are 5-2 in County play and among the leaders with Arlington, Wilmette and Palatine.

"I thought we might be a little down," said Elk Grove coach Brian Mucha. "We've kind of changed our gears toward focusing on County games because we don't have the pitching depth for (weekend) tournaments. I'm fairly pleased with our guys."

The pitching has been the key with Andy Keehn, who beat Arlington 5-2, Julian Sipiora, Donny Duschinsky and submarining reliever Adam Lenoci.

Duschinsky threw a 1-hit shutout with 11 strikeouts in 6 innings against Morton Grove but got a no-decision when Elk Grove couldn't hold a 6-run lead before winning in extra innings.

Lenoci got the win and also had a strong 31/3-inning outing in the Ottawa tourney.

"It seems every time he comes in he shuts the other team down," Mucha said.

Connor McHugh has led the way offensively at .450 in the leadoff or No. 2 spot. Joe Dombek has also been hot and Duschinsky, Sipiora and Tim Massat have hit well.

Mucha said Elk Grove will also have Ryan Martinski and Ryan Daubenspeck for this weekend's Moline tournament before resuming a busy County schedule.

"The next two weeks are just nuts," Mucha said.

Busy Barrington: Defending Second Division champion Barrington's schedule hasn't had plenty of quality to go with quantity in a 10-6 start.

Along with its solid 10th District schedule, where it improved to 5-2 with a 12-1 win Wednesday over Lake Forest, Barrington has also played two teams from Michigan, another from Nebraska and one from Wilmette. Barrington coach Pat Wire said a win over an Ida (Mich.) team loaded with college players was big.

"If we can beat a team like that there isn't any team we can't beat," Wire said. "That game was huge for us and it gave us a tremendous amount of confidence.

"We've played great competition and hopefully it's going to get us ready to do what we need to do."

Barrington has a team ERA around 3.74 behind Greg Gerrard (3-0, 2.72, 20 strikeouts in 18 innings), Jackson Lundmark (2-1, 2.33), Chris Rogers (3 saves, 1.68) and Logan Kissack (0.95 ERA). Sean Buchholz and Brendan Schumacher are slowly coming back from spring arm trouble.

"Both of them have pitched well in limited innings and we're trying to get these guys healthy and ready for the playoff run," Wire said. "I'm pretty proud of those (other) guys. They've done a great job of keeping us in it."

Anthony Brignola has been a boost offensively at .400. Macray Poidomani, who will be a sophomore at Barrington, has been a big surprise at .452.

Newcomers Chris Coco and Max Redpath have meshed well with veterans such as Derek Foderaro (.362) and David Alameda. Getting infielder Jimmy Cook back from injury is another boost.

Barrington heads to Evanston this weekend for the Lakeside Challenge wood-bat tourney where Deerfield, St. Charles and Racine (Wis.) are in its pool. It will play its final three 10th District regular-season games next week and go to Bloomington for a tourney before starting postseason play July 12.

Palatine doing just fine: Palatine coach Jeff Ryder will take the kind of play he's seen from the defending state champion in a 10-4 start.

"Our defense has been doing a good job, our pitching is doing a good job and our bats have been steady," Ryder said of a team where 3 losses have been by a run. "Not great but good and steady."

Palatine won the Champaign wood-bat tourney with 5 victories as Clint Terry hit a grand slam in the title game at the University of Illinois. Ryder said the UIC-bound Terry has also been outstanding in leading a deep pitching staff still waiting for Matt Johnsen to return from shoulder tenderness.

The Hoffman Estates duo of leadoff man Erik Smoy and cleanup man Zach Demmon have made an impact. Second baseman Kevin Ciardiello, third baseman Eric Paulson, shortstop Zach Kolakowski, Zenon Kolakowski, Sean Stutzman and the catching duo of Clint Herdegen and Tyler Gregory have also keyed the strong start.

Palatine will be in the Moline tournament this weekend, but Ryder's bigger concern is the busy County schedule when it returns.

"We'll split the pitching and watch the pitch counts (at Moline)," Ryder said. "We've been able to get a good look at all of our pitchers and start setting people up accordingly. This July will test everybody."

Arlington pitches in: Pitching hasn't been a problem in a 12-5 start for Arlington. Phil Kerber, Jeremy Salzman, Brendan King, Kurt Donner, Jack Mullenix and Matt Hendricks have all been solid.

"We've been holding most teams in but we've played terrible defense," said Arlington coach Lloyd Meyer. "We're not making plays we should make so I'm surprised our pitching has been as good as it's been."

Donner, who will be a senior at Prospect, has been a nice surprise. Meyer dropped Donner's arm angle to three-quarters and said his first time out he struck out three hitters on 10 pitches.

"He has a chance to really help us and help himself," Meyer said. "He throws hard and he's big and he throws a heavy ball that rides in and down."

Offensive support has also been lacking for Arlington's pitchers. Jake Knauss has been the most consistent hitter, Kyle Kapka has gotten some big hits and Meyer said Mike Toljanic is starting to hit better.

"Like any other year, it's what's going to happen from here on out," Meyer said.

But Arlington moved to the top of the Cook County standings at 6-3 with a 6-3 win over Wilmette on Wednesday. Arlington is at the Moline tourney this weekend.

Prospect looks to put it together: Tom Krumsee has seen signs of what Mount Prospect is capable of in a 4-7 start. But putting everything together at the same time hasn't happened often.

"If we get good pitching we don't get good hitting and if we get good hitting we don't get good pitching," Krumsee said. "We're just in a funk right now. The timely hitting is missing and every time we make a mistake it's costing us."

Last weekend in Kenosha, Steve Danielak pitched well in a 3-1 loss and Mike Danielak got a 4-1 win. Eddie Rodriguez threw a 2-hit shutout in a Cook County win over Glenview.

Dan Hoppel also was impressive with 4 scoreless innings where he threw only 36 pitches before Morton Grove got to him in the fifth inning of a loss.

"There are glimpses of a very good team," Krumsee said.

Sean Thompson has been one of the offensive leaders and Mike Danielak has been a pleasant surprise. Krumsee likes what he's seen from Brian Crowell in the leadoff spot and said Alex Lee has been hitting the ball hard but with little luck.

Mount Prospect, which beat Glenview again 4-1 Wednesday, started Waukegan tourney play Thursday and is guaranteed four games.