Elgin battles but falls to Danville in American Legion tournament

Elgin's final Houdini act didn't pan out at the state American Legion tournament Sunday at Kirby Smith Field in Barrington.

Elgin Post 57 escaped jams in the 4th, 5th and 6th innings but Danville Post 210 tied the game in the bottom of the 7th and won it on a bases-loaded walk to win 3-2.

Danville (29-6) advanced in the winner's bracket of the double-elimination. They will play host Barrington Post 158 at 1 p.m. Monday. Barrington eliminated Wheaton Post 76, 12-2 in 5 innings.

Elgin (33-6-1) is still alive in the tournament. They will play Rock Island Post 200 at 10 a.m. on Monday. The winner of that game will play the loser of Barrington-Danville at 4 p.m.

"We have to play a little better at times," Elgin coach Zach Edgar said. "They are a very good team and we have to play up to their level at all times."

After Elgin failed to score with the bases loaded in the top of the second, Danville (29-6) came back to take a 1-0 lead, scoring on a bases-loaded wild pitch.

Elgin, which was stymied through the first 4-plus innings, put together 4 consecutive singles to tally 2 runs. Michael Lopez, Ryan Dominick, Dayne Fredrick and Cy Kerber each singled with Fredrick and Kerber driving in runs to take a 2-1 lead.

"After coming back against Rock Island on Saturday, we knew we could do it," said Fredrick, who plays at Judson. "We just shortened up our approach."

Kerber, who will play next season at Elgin Community College, said that when his team began to battle at the plate good things happened.

"We were having a hard time at the plate," Kerber said. "I knew when we began stringing together some hits, we had a chance. It was a game we should have won."

Barrington 12, Wheaton 2 (5 innings):

Barrington's Johnny Gardner and John Seagrist both belted homers as Barrington racked of 17 hits in the rout. Gardner, who hit his first homer of the season, also doubled and drove in 2 runs.

Rayth Peterson continued his hot hitting for Barrington with 3 hits and 3 RBI. Seagrist had 2 hits and 2 RBI. Tommy Fitzpatrick had 2 hits and 2 RBI, Luke Kozlowski had 2 hits and an RBI and Will Koehler had 2 hits.

"We had a good day today," Barrington coach Nate Gray. "The boys hit the ball today which is great. I said if we hit we would have a good chance of winning. Hopefully that will continue. We mixed up the lineup to get a little more athletic."

Wheaton (22-12) got a home run from Joe Klein, who had 2 hits on the day while Justyn Orozco had 3 hits.