Mixed results for local teams
Area teams went in three different directions on the second day of the Illinois State Legion tournament at Recreationan Park in Arlington Heights on Thursday.
Barrington Post 158 was a winner and stayed unbeaten in the winner's bracket of the double elimination tournament.
Northwest Post 690 dropped a 1-run decision and moved into the loser's bracket while Arlington Post 208 lost for the second time in two days and was eliminated.
Northwest pitcher Dylan Roskin went 8 strong innings, allowing only 4 hits.
But the Schaumburg graduate was let down by his teammates in key moments as Galesburg Post 385 won 4-3.
"It was just a dogfight out there until the end," said Roskin, who will be attending Miami of Ohio and hopes to walk on to the baseball team. "My teammates had me and were making plays. We just had a couple of small mistakes and they made us pay for them."
Roskin had trouble locating the strike zone to start the game, throwing six of his first seven pitches for balls.
So co-head coach Kevin Miller trotted out to the mound to talk to the left-hander.
"I just told him to breath," Miller said. "I stood in front of him and had him take a deep breath. I then told him that his game was no different from any other."
Roskin got the message, retiring the next 12 batters.
Meanwhile, Northwest (25-8-1) was able to build a 2-0 lead as Patrick O'Malley singled twice, stole two bases and scored once on a RBI single by his brother Adam and the other time on a wild pitch.
"I was able to get on base and move around a bit," Patrick O'Malley said. "I was just trying to scrap ways to score."
Galesburg (35-15), which will meet Barrington in the winner's bracket game at 3 p.m. today, came back to tie the game in the sixth inning.
Drew Claeys had a 2-run single scoring Logan Davis, who reached on an error and Todd Matz, who reached on an infield single.
Northwest regained the lead in the seventh when Brandon Cortez doubled to lead off the inning.
He moved to third on Adam O'Malley's ground out to third and scored on a wild pitch to make it 3-2.
But another error by Northwest in the bottom of the seventh led to Galesburg's final 2 runs.
Todd Matz reached on an error and Drake Sykes was intentionally walked. With two outs, Carson Cheesman tripled to the right field wall, putting Galesburg up for good.
Northwest will play Swansea/Fairview Heights Posts 2007/978 at 11 a.m. today. The winner of that game will play the loser of Barrington-Galesburg at 7 p.m.
"Dylan pitched hard for us today," Miller said. "We are just going to have to come back tomorrow and win in the morning and then again later."
Fairview Hts. 6, Arlington 4:
Host Arlington was eliminated after losing its second game in less than 16 hours.
"We needed more pressure games and I think it showed up in the tournament," said Arlington coach Lloyd Meyer, whose team finished 35-6 for the year. "We just didn't hit very well."
Joe Silva and Alex Niecikowski each had 2 hits for Arlington.
Barrington 14 Mattoon 3:
Barrington took care of business in just seven innings to advance in the winner's bracket to play Galesburg at 3 p.m. today.
Barrington, which has won 13 in a row and 31 of its last 32 games, knocked out 10 hits. Six of them were for extra bases.
Mitch Pfeiffer doubled and scored 2 runs, Dan Kubiuk had a triple and scored 3 times, Jared Ludwig, Anthony Lombardi and Quentin Sefick each had a double. Scott Nelson struck out three while picking up the win, and he also had a 3-run triple.
Friday's Games:
Northwest Post vs. Swansea/Fairview Heights Post 11 a.m.; Barrington Post 158 vs. Galesburg Post 385, 3 p.m.; Winner Game 1 vs. loser Game 2, 7 p.m.