Baseball: Elk Grove beats York
Often times X truly marks the spot in the life of Elk Grove pitcher Xander Rojahn.
Named after character Xander Harris from the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" television series, Rojahn also happens to be playing baseball next season at Xavier University.
"When I see 'Let's Go X' printed everywhere I'm like, 'It's calling me,'" Rojahn joked. "Usually it's a Z. Everyone thinks that it's (Xander with) a Z when they first meet me."
On Thursday the predominant letter was a W.
The Grenadiers took the lead in the top of the first inning and Rojahn never relinquished it for a 9-4 win over York at the Class 4A Willowbrook regional semifinals.
Elk Grove (18-12), the No. 9 seed in the Glenbard West sectional, plays for the regional title at 11 a.m. Saturday in Villa Park against top-seeded West Suburban Gold champion Willowbrook (24-6).
Elk Grove's nine hits included four for extra bases and two each from seniors Ryne Singsank, who had three runs batted in, Josh Periaswamy, who had two doubles, and Matt Crimmins, who tripled, and junior catcher Zach Schwartz.
While Elk Grove and No. 8 York (21-11-1) boast great senior classes, the Grenadiers had the extra motivation of continuing the run of retiring coach Terry Beyna after 20 seasons and 352 victories.
"Especially with also having 11 seniors, we're in the same boat, too (as Beyna). We're on our way out," said Singsank, named after Chicago Cubs Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg. "It's kind of just like we want to finish on top, especially for Coach Beyna, because he's been doing it for so long."
Elk Grove pulled ahead 6-1 in the fourth, but York closed to 6-4 in the bottom half behind 3 of its 5 hits.
Rojahn (4-2) allowed only one hit the rest of way and received breathing room with three unearned runs in the seventh with a two-out error followed by a double steal of home and Rojahn's RBI single. After Rojahn surpassed the maximum pitch count of 115, he moved to right field and senior submarine thrower Bobby Blazano got the final out.
"I definitely haven't thrown that many pitches before," Rojahn said. "They had really great at-bats. I think one kid battled me up to 11 pitches at one point. I felt kind of locked up there and that's a testament to their hitting. But we got it done."
Rojahn deserves credit for a strong outing considering he also pitched when Elk Grove defeated York 14-7 April 2 in Elmhurst. Schwartz had 4 hits.
Southern Illinois recruit Singsank (8-2) is projected to pitch Saturday. He had a two-run single in the third after a wild-pitch third strike and Periaswamy's second double. When Singsank later scored on an errant pickoff throw to first, Elk Grove led 5-1. Crimmins singled and scored on senior Nick Hoffman's sacrifice fly in the fourth.
"We got up early. It was a battle and yet we were able to maintain the lead, weather the storm and continue to add on," Beyna said. "To really finish the game, that's what I was most proud of."
York senior Joe Goehl had a two-run triple in the fourth and senior No. 9 hitter Clayton Letourneau singled twice. Senior Kellan Gilmartin (5-2), the Dukes' ace pitcher, struck out six and retired six straight between the fourth and sixth.
Nine of the Dukes' 10 starters Thursday were seniors, a lineup they've used the past couple of weeks that secured second in the West Suburban Silver, one game behind Lyons Township, and a third straight 20-win season.
Seniors Bo Thomas' 38 RBI and Ryan Ross' 43 runs scored and 23 stolen bases were among offensive category leaders in DuPage County.
"You can't give (opponents) outs, no matter what time of year it is or who you're playing," said coach Dave Kalal, who earned his 200th York coaching victory this season.
"I'm proud of our kids. The great thing was where we started the season to where we ended up. It was so much growth from the entire team. I hope that they just see that when you do work their tail off, that there is some reward at the end."
The Grenadiers won their last regional title in 2016, also the last time they won the Mid-Suburban League East Division before this season. Hoffman was a 2016 starter and Rojahn and Singsank were postseason call-ups.
"They were a talented team and it kind of set the bar for what we wanted to achieve this year," Singsank said.
"I just remember in the regional championship they sent me down to the pen," Rojahn said. "I was kind of disappointed. I really wanted to throw (in relief), but it was really fun to be there and it was a really great experience."