Baseball: Aurora Christian clinches share of NAC title
Aurora Christian clinched at least a share of the Northeastern Athletic Conference baseball championship with a 10-0 win over Westminster Christian on Thursday.
Drew Wagner threw a 2-hitter with 7 strikeouts and no walks for the Eagles (18-4-1, 11-0) and he went 4-for-4 at the plate with a double and 3 RBI. RD Lutze added a 2-run home run for the winners while Ethan Stoneberg had 2 hits with a double, Jacob Daley 2 hits and an RBI and Gerald Marrero a double and 2 RBI.
Matthew Schulenburg and Nick DeMaira had the only hits for Westminster Christian (11-15, 9-3).
St. Charles East 12, Streamwood 1: Jim Dale had 2 hits with a home run and a double and 3 RBI to lead the Saints (18-7, 13-3) to an Upstate Eight River win. Corbin Marucco added 2 hits for SCE as did Joe Sciarrino. Thomas Adams added a double and an RBI and Brendan Benvenuti had 2 hits with a triple and an RBI. Shawn Ligocki went 4 innings and allowed 5 hits with 3 strikeouts and no walks to earn the win. Streamwood slipped to 6-15 overall and 5-12 in the league.
West Aurora 11, East Aurora 2: Ryan Becker had 3 hits with a double and a triple and Matt Desjardine added 3 hits with 2 doubles and an RBI to lead the Blackhawks (9-11, 9-7) to a UEC Valley win. Oscar Acevedo (2 RBI), Jake Lipscomb (2 hits, RBI), Connor Palmby (2 hits, RBI), Cody Wyeth (2 hits, 2 RBI), Trevor Hannan (2B) and winning pitcher JJ Rivera (2 hits, 2B, RBI) added to the West Aurora offense. Rivera went 4 innings and allowed 5 hits.
St. Charles North 10, Elgin 0: Tim Hasto tossed a 2-hitter with 4 strikeouts and no walks, Sean Krueger had a 3-run home run and Sam Faith added 2 hits with a double and an RBI for the North Stars (21-3, 18-1) in their UEC River win. Eddy Ramos and Pat Gallagher had the only hits for Elgin (5-18, 4-11).
South Elgin 11, Bartlett 1: Joe Roberson, who threw a 4-hitter with 6 strikeouts and 1 walk, had 3 hits and 5 RBI and Mitch Butvilas added 3 hits and an RBI for the Storm (18-7, 11-2) in their UEC Valley win. Patrick Keaty had 2 hits and 2 RBI for South Elgin while Bryant Diel added 2 hits and Jake Miller had a double. Brad Nowak had a double for Bartlett (6-17, 3-11).
Burlington Central 11, Harvard 0: Kyle Creadon allowed just 4 hits with 6 strikeouts and 3 walks and Ryan Knowlton had a double and 2 RBI to lead the Rockets (15-7, 10-1) to a Big Northern East win. Clay Milas (2 hits), John Murphy (2 hits), Craig Schuring (2 hits, RBI), David Lauber (2 RBI), Killian Vasica (2 RBI) and Josh Noeska (2 hits, 2 RBI) also contributed for BC.
Kaneland 3, DeKalb 2: Jacob Violett, who had 2 hits, doubled home Joe Laudont, who also had 2 hits, with the game-winning run in the bottom of the sixth inning to lead the Knights (10-7, 6-2) to a Northern Illinois Big XII win. Luke Calabrese also had a double for Kaneland and Noah Jones threw a complete game allowing 8 hits with 2 strikeouts and no walks for the win.
Grayslake Central 6, Jacobs 5: Mike Addante had 2 hits with a home run and Loen Nelson added 2 hits with a double and an RBI for Jacobs (15-10, 5-6) in this Fox Valley Conference crossover loss. Stevie Krueger and Adam Kale added 2 hits each for the Golden Eagles. Evan Liebau suffered the loss on the mound.
Larkin 12, Hoffman Estates 7: Keonne Mebane hit a grand slam home run and Jackson Reuter had 3 hits with a double and 3 RBI to lead the Royals (5-18) to a nonconference win. Zach Edgar added 2 hits with an RBI for Larkin. TJ Beavers picked up the win in relief.
Timothy Christian 11, St. Edward 1: Karl Bibler had 2 hits and Dan Falco added a double and an RBI for St. Edward (4-21) in this nonconference loss.
St. Laurence 7, Marmion 1: Bobby Pierce had a double for Marmion (8-15, 3-10) in this Chicago Catholic League loss.
Chicago Christian 8, ACC 1: Sean Sinisko and Austin Berens had the only hits for Aurora Central (15-10) in this Metro Suburban crossover loss.
Cary-Grove 6, Lake Zurich 3: Quinn Celske (2 hits), Nate Hartke (2B, 2 RBI) and Kevin Pedersen (2 hits, RBI) led the Trojans (18-7) to this nonconference win. Tom Neilson picked up the win in relief.
CL South 13, Zion-Benton 3: Cam Geisser had 3 hits and an RBI, Nick Van Witzenburg added 2 hits and 3 RBI and Scott Skwarek had 2 hits and 2 RBI for Crystal Lake South (20-3) in this nonconference win. Andrew Engelking was the winning pitcher in relief.