Baseball: Schaumburg cruises past Wheeling

Although it is his first full year as a head baseball coach, Schaumburg's Nick Kostalek is like a seasoned veteran.

With his team up big early against Wheeling in a Mid-Suburban League crossover game Saturday, Kostalek began to freely substitute his players. He used six different pitchers and nearly all of his position players got an opportunity to bat as the Saxons cruised past Wheeling 14-5 in Schaumburg.

"We got a majority of our guys in," Kostalek said. "I was really happy to get seniors Rafael Vaz Ruiz and AJ Cavalier into the game. They are seniors who have committed themselves to the program and it was good to give them an opportunity."

Schaumburg rattled off 11 hits and sent 8 batters to the plate on two different occasions a the Saxons jumped out to an 8-1 lead after three innings.

"It is a testament to our guys," Kostalek said. "They are really focused on plus counts and taking healthy hacks with a plus count. They are trying to get on base and get to the next guy. It is fun to see."

It was third win for the Saxons (15-11) over Wheeling this season. Schaumburg has a final regular season game Tuesday at Huntley before the eighth-seeded Saxons host No. 9 seed Glenbard West in the opening round of the Class 4A playoffs.

Schaumburg trailed 1-0 Saturday when it erupted for 4 runs in the first and 3 runs in the second. Nathan Collier had 2-run singles in each of those innings as Schaumburg pulled away.

"I have been seeing the ball well," said Collier, who is a junior. "Our team has been playing very well and so the teams we are playing will try to pound the strike zone against us. I just love to jump on those pitches."

Armen Torosian also has been jumping well for the Saxons. The senior, who will play at the University of Indianapolis next season, has 7 home runs this year. On Saturday, he had a double and a single, drove in a pair of runs and reached base four times.

"We have a good lineup," Torosian said. "I like our guys. One through nine, we all hit the ball. We had another good day with the barrels finding the ball."

Joseph Masi had a pair of hits for Schaumburg while Kevin Schoefernacker, Joseph Stagowski, Jason Akers, Hector Morales and Juan Calabria each had an RBI.

Wheeling (12-13) made sure that the game went all seven innings. The Wildcats were within an out of having the game end early when Chase Rosen tripled in a pair of runs. Gavin Stanley had an RBI double while Trey Roberts and Zach Zagorski each had an RBI.

"They are a good team," said Wildcats acting head coach Pete Ogilvie, who was pinch hitting for head coach Jason Wieder, who had a personal commitment on Saturday.

"I didn't understand how they finished fourth in the West because every time we have played them they have hit and fielded well."

Wheeling will play at Stevenson in its opener of the state tournament next week.