Baseball: Storm suspends South Elgin, West Aurora

Hurry up and wait.

Monday's opener of an important 3-game Upstate Eight Conference baseball series between South Elgin and West Aurora was suspended by lightning and rain with the appropriately named Storm (12-2, 10-1) leading 4-2 after 4 ½ innings in Aurora.

Play will resume in South Elgin Tuesday afternoon with the Blackhawks (13-4-1, 9-2-1) batting with nobody out in the bottom of the fifth.

"We'll pick it up tomorrow," said Blackhawks coach John Reeves. "We'll just start one (game) and roll into another and see what happens."

West Aurora grabbed a 1-0 lead in the second on a towering solo home run by senior Danny Marion.

Marion's fifth home run of the season came on the first pitch from Storm right-hander Joseph Teschke (4 IP, 2R, 6H, 3K).

In the third, Marion came through again, lacing a 2-out RBI double down the left-field line to extend the Blackhawks' lead to 2-0.

Meanwhile, Blackhawks southpaw starting pitcher Eddie Wilson retired the first 10 batters before South Elgin tied it in the top of the fourth.

Back-to-back, 1-out singles from Patrick Keaty and Ben Hetelle and a groundout off the bat of Garrett Wano advanced the runners to second and third, setting the stage for Logan Romasanta's clutch 2-run single to right-center.

"I was just looking fastball trying to drive it the other way and I got it," said Romasanta.

South Elgin grabbed its first lead of the contest with another 2-spot in the top of the fifth, thanks in part to some shaky defensive play from the Blackhawks.

An infield and outfield error allowed Cody Gallagher to reach second before Grayson Downing laid down a picture-perfect bunt down the third-base line for a single.

Two pitches later, Gallagher came across with the go-ahead run on a wild pitch before another defensive miscue allowed Downing to score and make it 4-2.

"It happens," Reeves said of his team's errors. "You just have to overcome it and score some runs."

After Wilson (5 IP, 4 R, 6H, 4K) retired Wano on a fly ball to end the fifth, the home-plate umpire noticed a flash of lightning and play was halted.

With starters Wilson and Teschke throwing 68 and 66 pitches, respectively, both teams will look to the bullpen when action resumes Tuesday.

"We'll both have to change up the pitchers," said Reeves. "That will be part of the strategy, figuring out who's going to do what."