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Baseball: Weather, West Chicago can't stop St. Francis

Even the snow flurries and cold temperatures Monday did nothing to slow down the hot St. Francis bats.

Averaging nearly 12 runs a game coming in, the Spartans stayed undefeated on the young baseball season with a 10-2 victory against West Chicago in Wheaton.

St. Francis (6-0) did the most damage in the fourth inning, when the home team knocked out six hits in a row and scored 8 runs to expand on a 2-1 lead.

"It's their approach," St. Francis coach Nick Hall said about his team's hitting. "The approach all year has been to hit fastballs in fastball counts. They are buying in and doing a great job.

"It's a senior-led lineup and the juniors pick up where the seniors leave off."

Brett Whelton kicked off the scoring with an RBI single in the first and then knocked in another run in the fourth. Wil Purdom had a 2-run double, Tim Lilly knocked in 2 runs with a single and Tim Sullivan added a run-scoring double.

"We've been getting it done with the bats," Whelton said. "We have a bunch of returners and everybody is hitting the ball hard."

JP Clifford started on the mound for the Spartans and pitched into the fifth inning, striking out eight while allowing three hits. Connor Quinn yielded just one hit in relief.

"We are playing well right now," Clifford said. "We have scored nearly 10 runs every game and the pitchers are doing what they need to do."

West Chicago (2-4) received an RBI single from Josh Bowen and a double from Keaton Lauro, who also made a diving catch in left field.

"They've got a nice team," West Chicago coach Dan McCarthy said of the Spartans. "They have six or seven starters back and they hit the ball well. But if you take out that one inning, we are right there. We had a couple of opportunities early and we didn't get the big hit when we needed it."

- Scott Schmid

Glenbard South 3, Riverside-Brookfield 2:

The Raiders (3-3, 1-0) won their Metro Suburban West opener on the road. Fabian Garcia was the winning pitcher and also had one of Glenbard South's hits. Two third-inning runs for the Raiders scored on an error. They scored their final run on a fourth-inning error. The series concludes Tuesday in Glen Ellyn.

Hinsdale Central 18, Proviso West 0:

An 11-run third-inning outburst powered the Red Devils (4-1, 1-0) to their five-inning West Suburban Silver victory. Winning pitcher Robert Dandorph struck out 11, walked none and allowed only 3 hits. Andrew Jurack went 2-for-3 with a double, homer and 5 RBI. Spencer Garnett went 3-for-4 with 3 RBI.

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