Conant, Elk Grove pull off stunners
Conant and Elk Grove accomplished difficult tasks Monday in the Prospect regional of the Illinois High School Baseball Coaches Association summer league tournament.
Conant (7-10), the 15th seed, beat Bartlett 18-9 and then stunned No. 2 St. Charles North 6-5. No. 13 Elk Grove (13-11) beat Elgin 9-2 and upset No. 4 Huntley 5-1.
Sidearming John DiMatteo got the victory that put Conant in today's 1 p.m. game at Prospect with No. 10 Lake Park, which also capped a 2-win day with a 4-3 win over St. Viator. St. Charles North loaded the bases with no outs in the seventh, but hard-throwing senior Walt Wijas came in and struck out the side.
"After seeing the little sidearmer at 50-60 mph, (Wijas) comes in at 80-something and guys were way behind," said Conant coach Jerry Song. "He looked good. Johnny kept them off-balance and pitched well."
DiMatteo also escaped from a bases-loaded, one-out jam unscathed. Sean Smith had a couple of big hits and Otto Linderman had a big two-out hit as Conant executed its plan of hitting to the right side.
Elk Grove got solid starts from Colin Semler and Kyle Pfister to advance to today's 4 p.m. game at Schaumburg against No. 5 Jacobs. Semler allowed 2 hits and 2 runs in 6 innings against Elgin, and Tony Logli (2 RBI), Dan Lopez, Ryan Martinski, Nico Piscopo and Pfister had 2 hits apiece.
Pfister then threw a complete-game 7-hitter with 3 strikeouts against Huntley. Donny Duschinsky (3-for-4, 3 RBI) had a big 2-run single with two outs in the third.
"When I saw Huntley in pregame I thought, 'Man, we're in trouble,' " said Elk Grove coach Terry Beyna. "We just played our best possible game.
"For me beating Huntley was huge. They were definitely a very solid team and it gave me some hope that it's there."
Top-seeded Schaumburg (19-2) beat Larkin 6-3 as Matt Mistrata hit a 2-run homer in the first inning, and Mike Mistrata threw 4 solid innings of relief for the win.
The Saxons will play at home at 1 p.m. today against No. 8 Fremd (13-7), a 12-8 winner over No. 9 Glenbard North as Mike Tauchman had 3 two-out RBI and Ryan Polak, Tyler Gregory and Brandon Middlebrook had 2 hits.
No. 3 Prospect (17-4) rolled to an 11-1 win in 6 innings over South Elgin as lefty Jack Mullinex went the distance and was backed by 3 double plays. In the third, right fielder Alex Zavacki threw out a runner trying for third on an errant pickoff, and left fielder Joey Siers nailed a runner trying to score for the third out.
An RBI triple by Jason Leblebijian and a Miles Osei sacrifice fly put the Knights up 2-0 in the first and Brian Bauer's RBI single in the third was followed by Tom Lonpre's grand slam. The Knights will host today's 4:30 p.m. game with No. 6 Hersey (14-8), which beat Streamwood 4-3 as Chris James had 2 RBI singles and Bill Koch had an RBI. Sal Locascio was the winner in relief, and Joe Perricone left the bases loaded for the save.
No. 4 Palatine (18-7) won the opener of its regional 5-0 over Glenbrook South as Dan Huenecke allowed 2 hits and 2 walks with 6 strikeouts in 6 innings. Trey Cannon hit a first-inning homer and Joe Pelnar was 3-for-3 with 2 RBI to set up today's 4:30 p.m. game at home with No. 9 Lane Tech.
In the Fenwick regional, No. 6 Maine West (15-4) got a wild 13-12 win over No. 11 St. Ignatius on Justin Johann's bases-loaded RBI single with one out in the 10th. Ryan Tuntland hit a 3-run homer and 2-run double, and Lucas Udischas pitched 4 solid innings of relief to set up a 1 p.m. home game today with No. 14 Whitney Young.
No. 7 Leyden (14-13) rallied from a 3-run deficit to beat No. 10 Addison Trail 4-3. Justin Stawychny had a 3-run triple in the fifth, and Carlos Olavarria tripled and scored on Gene Hylka's single in the sixth. Leyden is at No. 2 Oak Park at 2 p.m. today.