Baseball: Hulligan pitches Buffalo Grove over Barrington

Mason Hulligan put Buffalo Grove in the driver's seat.

It's just too bad it will take even more time for him to have his turn behind the wheel.

Hulligan, who is a junior, was forced to make a nearly impossible decision for a 17-year-old. The junior had to choose between making his first varsity start on the mound for Buffalo Grove or taking a scheduled driving lesson so he could get his driver's license in the next few weeks.

Hulligan chose the mound over the wheel and the Bison are happy that he did.

Hulligan went five-plus innings for Buffalo Grove. He pitched, defended and picked off Barrington in a 9-6 win for the Bison Saturday in Barrington.

Due to the cancellation of his driving lesson, Hulligan will not be able to able to get his driver's license until mid-July. That's unless the driver's school can find a way to squeeze him in their schedule.

Despite that, Hulligan said pitching for his team was the only decision.

"I have to wait for my license for two months," Hulligan said. "It was absolutely worth it though. I feel great. I needed to make sure I pitched well today and I did."

Buffalo Grove (12-7, 10-1), which leads the MSL East by three games, has five conference games in the next eight days. They also have a nonconference game with Libertyville next Thursday.

Bison coach Bill Montemayor said they turned to Hulligan thanks to an impressive outing the junior had last week against Palatine.

"It was good day," Montemayor said. "It was a really good opportunity for Hulligan to step up. We wanted to see what he has and he did an excellent job for us."

Saturday's game was a rematch of last year's MSL title game in which Buffalo Grove beat Barrington 4-3.

In that game, Jack Alport picked up the win for the Bison. The senior had a huge part in Saturday's win, going 3-for-3 with a pair of walks.

He had a huge 11-pitch at-bat that he turned into a bases-loaded triple. He also pitched the final two innings in relief.

"This is a special place for me, it brings out my best," said Alport, who along with his Buffalo Grove teammates, will be at the baseball table at Saturday night's prom in Wheeling.

"Barrington is one of the best teams. We are pumped up when we see them on our schedule and I have to be pumped up too."

Alport helped kick-start the Bison in the first inning. His leadoff single was one of six consecutive hits by the Bison as they spotted Hulligan with a five-spot. Griffin Kelly and Alex Beihoffer each had two-run singles and Michael Wolverton had an RBI fielder's choice to give Buffalo Grove an early cushion.

Barrington (16-4-2, 9-3), which is tied with Fremd for the lead in the MSL West, got a couple of runs back in its half of the inning. Logan Eisenbarth and Mason Rasmussen each had an RBI single.

Hulligan then settled in and helped himself along the way. Twice he induced grounders back to him that he helped turn into inning-ending double plays. He also picked off a Barrington runner at second to thwart another threat.

Buffalo Grove was able to add some insurance runs thanks to Alport's double and Payton Diaz' RBI single.

Barrington made it interesting with three runs in the sixth. The Broncos scored on an error and two-run single by J.D. Swarbrick.

But Alport picked off a runner in the seventh and then got the final two outs.

Buffalo Grove had 13 hits with Alport leading the way. Diaz and Dennis Ratzki each had two hits for the Bison.

Barrington banged out 14 hits. Rasmussen had three hits while Evan Jno-Baptiste, Swarbrick, Eisenbarth and Danny Hoffman each had two hits.

"They came to play," Barrington coach Pat Wire said. "Our guys wanted to win but didn't do the things that they are supposed to do to win."