Baseball: Wheeling stuns Barrington
It had been since 2002, when current Wheeling baseball coach Jason Wieder was a senior playing for the Wildcats, that Wheeling last beat Barrington.
Until Friday.
Wheeling had two big innings - a 6-run fourth and a 6-run fifth on its way to a 13-11 Mid-Suburban crossover win in a game Barrington led 11-1 after two innings.
Cade Zalewski had 3 hits and 5 RBI for the Wildcats (10-10, 5-4) while Joe Jordan added 3 hits and 2 RBI.
Winning pitcher Spencer Nowak allowed just 2 walks over five innings for Wheeling.
Barrington, which outhit Wheeling 12-9, got 3 hits apiece out of Max Raynor and Jon Gardner while Johnny Podlesnik added 2 hits. Gardner also drove in 3 runs for the Broncos (18-5, 7-2).
Conant 5, Buffalo Grove 4: It was a dramatic finish at Conant as the host Cougars came up with a run in the bottom of the eighth to edge visiting Buffalo Grove in an MSL crossover. Tim Evans nailed a single on a 2-2 count to drive in the winning run. Conant (6-15, 3-6) pounded out 10 hits in the game. Kevin Polaski, Keegan Brandt, Jon Bustamante and Evans all finished with 2 hits for the Cougars while Evans and Bustamante each drove in 2 runs. Evans also came in to close the game on the mound, finishing with 1 strikeout in the final inning. Starter Teague Conrad had 6 strikeouts over seven innings. Buffalo Grove (13-7, 4-5), which got out to a good start with a 4-run first inning, got 6 strikeouts over seven innings from starter Nate Cole.
Elk Grove 8, Fremd 5: Both Elk Grove and Fremd rolled up the hits, 13 apiece, but it was a 7-run fourth inning that keyed the MSL crossover win for Elk Grove (10-8, 7-2). Shane Crimmins led the Grens with 3 hits while teammates Ryne Singsank, Mark Matos and Josh Periaswamy all had 2 hits apiece. Winning pitcher Nick Hofmann had 2 strikeouts and allowed just 2 walks over five innings. For Fremd (11-9, 6-3), Nick Rattin and Will Josten each had 3 hits while Austin Higgins and Matt Vingen each had 2 hits.
Hersey 7, Hoffman Estates 6: It was an error-filled MSL crossover with 12 errors between the two teams. But Hersey survived its own 7 errors and a 2-run bottom-of-the-seventh rally by Hoffman Estates to get the win. Hunter Luke had 2 hits for Hersey (11-10, 5-4) while Tom Quirk drove in 2 runs. Winning pitcher Griffin Ginder had 3 strikeouts while Caleb Bontje got the save. For Hoffman Estates (1-18-1, 0-9), Logan Willis had 2 hits, including a double.
Palatine 10, Prospect 2: A 6-run fourth keyed the MSL crossover victory for Palatine (13-10-1, 6-4). Shailan Rajpurkar had a big day for the Pirates with 2 hits and 4 RBI. He also was the winning pitcher, finishing with 3 strikeouts and just 2 walks. Tommy Philbin and Josh Stitt also drove in 2 runs apiece for Palatine. For Prospect (4-5 MSL), Jacob Kiel and Tyler Ciulla each drove in a run.
Schaumburg 6, Meadows 2: Tyler Slome had a double and 2 RBI for the Saxons (8-11, 4-5) in their MSL crossover win. Yuki Sato added 2 hits for Schaumburg, Ryan Walker drove in 2 runs and Justin Gadomski had an RBI. Jake Golliher was the winning pitcher. Sean Nolan had 2 hits for Meadows (4-14, 2-6).
Stevenson 7, St. Viator 2: In a game at Benedictine University, 5 runs in the top of the seventh keyed the win for Stevenson, which outhit St. Viator 11-6. Casey Kmet topped St. Viator with 2 hits and 2 RBI.