Baseball: Aurora Christian nails down NAC title
Aurora Christian locked up the Northeastern Athletic Conference baseball championship Saturday with a pair of 4-3 wins over Westminster Christian.
In Game 1, Jake Kuntzendorf led the Eagles, throwing 6 innings and allowing 4 hits with 10 strikeouts and no walks. He also had 2 hits with a home run and 2 RBI. Other leaders for AC included MJ Stavola (2B), who also earned the save on the mound, Sam Tickel (2 RBI) and Hunter Thompson (2 hits, 2B).
Mason Runkel and Andrew Kurcz each doubled and had an RBI for Westminster. Frankie Schlaffer was the losing pitcher.
Stavola had 2 hits including a triple for AC (26-2, 13-1) in Game 2 while Tickel added 2 hits with a double and 2 RBI, winning pitcher Clark Turek had 2 hits and Hunter Thompson had 2 hits with a double.
Matthew Schulenburg had 2 hits with a double for Westminster (15-11, 10-4).
Jacobs 1, McHenry 0: Liam Oreskovich's solo home run in the fourth inning was Jacobs' only hit of the game in this Fox Valley Conference win. Justin Lavrisa tossed a 1-hitter with 9 strikeouts and no walks for the Golden Eagles (16-10-1).
Huntley 2, CL South 0: Alex Laxner hurled a 2-hitter with 9 strikeouts and 1 walk as Huntley (23-5, 15-4) won in the FVC. Michael Talesky had a double and an RBI for the Red Raiders and AJ Henkle added 2 hits. Jacob Bimbi and Scott Skwarek had the only hits for Crystal Lake South (10-14-1). Josh Freeze suffered the loss.
Cary-Grove 5, Hampshire 3: Ryan Ignoffo had a double, triple and 2 RBI and Quinn Priester added 2 hits to lead Cary-Grove (15-10-1) to a FVC win. Robert Deischer went 6 innings for the win, allowing 4 hits with 8 strikeouts and 3 walks. Matthew Jachec had 3 hits and Trevor Laffin added 2 hits and an RBI for Hampshire (13-18).
St. Charles North 11, West Chicago 1: Egon Hein drive in 3 runs and Justin Dunne had a double and an RBI to lead the North Stars (23-2) to an Upstate Eight crossover win. Ryan Thiesse added a double for SCN and Lucas Heflen had 2 RBI. Tristan Cazel went 5 innings for the win, allowing 5 hits with 7 strikeouts and no walks.
West Aurora 10, Elgin 1: Cam Zimmerman had 2 hits with a home run and 2 RBI as West Aurora (18-7) took this UEC crossover. JJ Rivera (2 RBI), Danny Marion (3B), Jacob Gray (2B) and Ryan Tuescher (2 RBI) also contributed for the Blackhawks. Eddie Wilson was the winning pitcher, going 4⅔ innings and allowing 5 hits with 12 strikeouts and 3 walks. Jack Sitter had 2 hits with a double for Elgin (6-22) and Matthew Turner added 2 hits.
Rockford East 2, St. Edward 0: Jack Olson, Drew Tilche and Danny Camarena had the only hits for St. Edward (7-24) in a nonconference loss. Mike Lopez suffered the loss on the mound, allowing 5 hits with 6 strikeouts and no walks.
WW South 6, Marmion 5: Nick Talarico (2 hits, HR), Jack Molenhouse (2 hits, 2B, RBI), Brandon McPherson (2 hits) and Dillion DiIoro (3B) led Marmion (12-16) in a nonconference loss.
Hersey 6, Dundee-Crown 4: Erik Hedmark had 3 hits with 2 doubles and an RBI for D-C in a nonconference setback. Jack Waldron added a double and 2 RBI for the Chargers and Henry Smith had a double.