Elgin comes back to beat Streamwood
Ryan Sitter and Isaac Narayan energized the Elgin baseball team at struggling Streamwood’s expense in a 6-4 comeback victory Wednesday.
Visiting Elgin trailed 4-3 and was down to its final out in the top of the seventh when Sitter hammered a 1-1 changeup from Sabres reliever Chad Caminitti to the right-center field gap for a 2-run double, scoring courtesy runner James Stearns and Narayan.
“Let’s go,” Narayan screamed as he crossed the plate with the go-ahead run, pumping clenched fists. Elgin’s Kiko Mari kept the momentum rolling when he followed with a run-scoring double for a 2-run lead.
Elgin starting pitcher Jonathan Zima then completed the 2-game sweep of the Upstate Eight River series by inducing a foul popup down the right-field line with a Streamwood runner on first base. After Narayan made a tough diving catch in foul territory to end the game, he jumped to his feet and again howled, “Let’s go.”
“Every one of my teammates know how much I love this game,” Narayan said. “We’re a scrappy team and we play with a lot of energy. I play with a lot of energy. When we have a reason to get excited, we have to get excited and feed off that momentum.”
The third win in 5 games for Elgin (3-10, 2-8) was made possible by Sitter’s lead-changing double. The gapper left him with a satisfying if somewhat unfamiliar feeling.
“That’s the first time all season I’ve really hit the ball on the barrel, right on the sweet spot,” said Sitter, who went 2-for-4 with 3 RBI. “I kept hearing from coach that I needed to wait back, keep my hands back and my weight back. I got a changeup just above the knees and I’m a lowball hitter. It was the perfect pitch to wait on. I let it get in on me and drove it.”
Elgin’s seventh-inning comeback negated an earlier rally by Streamwood (1-11, 1-9), which dropped its 10th straight game. The Sabres trailed 3-0 until they grabbed the lead with a 4-run fourth inning, fueled by 3 hits and 3 Elgin infield errors. Senior Matt Harding’s sharp single tied the game and junior Eric Hamlin’s single to right field scored Ramon Saldivar to stake Streamwood to its first lead, 4-3.
“We put it in play, challenged their defense and got a couple of hits sandwiched in between,” Streamwood first-year coach Ryan Lasota said. “Unfortunately, we didn’t keep the our foot on the gas. We were content with a 1-run lead. When it rains it pours. We’re stuck in this losing streak and the only way to get out of it is to piece together a full seven innings.”
Zima (1-3) went the distance for Elgin, allowing 4 runs (1 earned) on 8 hits. He finished with 1 strikeout and did not issue a walk. Junior Kevin Sojda (1-3) took the loss. He allowed 5 earned runs on 6 hits, struck out 3 and walked 3 in 6 innings.