Baseball: Elgin Academy wins 1st regional title
Justin King threw a 1-hitter and Elgin Academy made the most of its only 2 hits Saturday to defeat host Holy Trinity 3-1 at Kerry Wood Field in Chicago to win the Class 1A regional baseball championship.
The regional crown is the first in program history for the Hilltoppers (21-10), who will play Somonauk at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Harvest Christian sectional semifinals at Judson University in Elgin.
The Hilltoppers scored a run in the first inning when Karl Rauschenberger, who had walked, came home on a passed ball. EA then added 2 runs in the third on Kevin Kuykendall's 2-run single.
The rest was left to King and a flawless defense. King had 2 strikeouts and 4 walks but his defense played an errorless game.
Rockford Lutheran 10, Aurora Christian 6: The Eagles saw their season come to an end in the championship game of the Class 2A Rockford Lutheran regional. Aurora Christian fell behind 9-0 after 3½ innings and its late-game rally came up short. Ethan Stoneberg led the offense for the Eagles (24-6) with 3 hits including 2 doubles. RD Lutze and Jacob Daley (RBI) each had 2 hits with a double and Gerald Marrero added a double and 2 RBI. Lutze was the losing pitcher.
South Elgin 4, West Chicago 2: Michael Cipriani had 2 hits and Justin Howard 2 RBI for South Elgin (19-10, 16-6) in this Upstate Eight win. Kyle Alvarado picked up the win on the mound going 5 innings and allowing 1 hit and no earned runs. He struck out 4 and walked 3.
Huntley 5, Grant 1: Trevor Ranallo had 2 hits with a double and Tyler Koss drove in 2 runs to lead Huntley (20-14) to a nonconference win. Adam Smylie was the winning pitcher, going 5 innings and allowing 4 hits with 5 strikeouts and 1 walk.
ACC 11, Lincoln-Way Central 9: Johnny Belskis had 4 hits with 2 doubles and 4 RBI, Ryan Poplawski drove in 2 runs and winning pitcher Austin Berens had a double and an RBI to lead Aurora Central (20-13) to a nonconference win.
Wheaton North 4, Marmion 3: Jon Young, Chase Stanke (RBI) and Collin Gibson each had 2 hits for Marmion in this nonconference loss. Matt Henkel drove in 2 runs for the Cadets (9-22).
Stevenson 6, Cary-Grove 4: Nick Kirk (2 hits, 2B, RBI), Quinn Celske (2 hits), Mark Smith (2 hits), Tyler Pennington (2B, RBI) and Dominic Calamari (2 RBI) led Cary-Grove (22-11) in this nonconference loss.
Dundee-Crown 4, Palatine 3: Ryan Denz had 2 hits and 2 RBI and winning pitcher Connor Ryan added 2 hits for the Chargers (15-15) in their nonconference win. Ryan went 6⅔ innings and allowed 2 hits with 6 strikeouts and 4 walks. Matt Weichmann earned the save.
Neuqua Valley 4, St. Charles East 2: Jim Dale and Brendan Venvenuti each had 2 hits and Monty Carbonell added a double for SCE (21-13) in this nonconference loss. Jon Recchia suffered the loss on the mound in relief.
CL South 11, Riverside-Brookfield 0: Tyler Carlson and Andrew Engelking combined on a 2-hitter while Nick Wolski had a triple and 4 RBI for the Gators in this nonconference game. Griffin Bright (2 hits), Nick Van Witzenburg (2 RBI), Kory Olsen (2B, RBI) and Ethan Weinandy (2 hits, 2B, 4 RBI) also contributed to the Crystal Lake South offense.
St. Ignatius 7, CL South 5: Kory Olsen (2 hits, RBI), Michael Swiaty (2 hits, 2B) and Ethan Weinandy (2 hits, 2 RBI) were the top hitters for CL South (26-6) in its second game of the day at North Park University.