Dramatic win for No. 13 seed Rolling Meadows
Rolling Meadows has found nothing unlucky about being seeded 13th in the Lake Park regional of the Phil Lawler Illinois High School Baseball Coaches Association summer state tournament.
The Mustangs (11-7) won their second straight game in dramatic fashion by scoring 5 runs in the top of the seventh inning to edge No. 5 St. Viator 6-5 in Tuesday’s quarterfinal. A 2-run single to left field with the bases loaded by Matt Dennis capped the rally that put them in today’s noon semifinal at Lake Park against top-seeded Jacobs, which beat No. 8 South Elgin 6-4.
“We didn’t quit, they made some errors and we got some hits and pulled out a really good win,” said Meadows coach Jim Lindeman. “It was fun.”
Dennis pitched the seventh for the save and Scott Schwartz got the victory with an inning of relief. Kevin Kurzawski went the first five innings for Meadows.
“He threw the ball really well but we made a couple of errors (that hurt),” Lindeman said.
Meadows also beat Elk Grove 2-0 in 10 innings on Monday as Mickey Wazorick pitched the first nine to get the victory.
In Tuesday’s other second-round Lake Park games, No. 7 Lake Park beat No. 2 Schaumburg 11-0 in 5 innings and No. 3 Huntley beat No. 6 Prospect 5-3. Lake Park hosts Huntley in today’s 3 p.m. semifinal.
Fremd 13, Deerfield 5: Grant Dunham went 3-for-5 with 2 triples and a double as No. 7 Fremd (11-8) outhit No. 2 Deerfield 16-14 in the Palatine regional quarterfinal. Sam Beutler and Jon Escobar had 2 hits and triples, Tim Polak had 2 hits and leadoff man Matt Isola scored 4 runs.
Sophomore Mack Rossman and Austin Jetel combined to get the victory that put the Vikings in today’s 4:30 p.m. semifinal at Palatine against No. 6 New Trier, which beat No. 14 Wheeling 11-0.
“We were hitting the ball well up and down the lineup,” said Fremd coach Chris Piggott. “(Rossman and Jetel) pitched well considering it was a tight strike zone and we played pretty good defense.”
No. 5 Maine South beat No. 4 Notre Dame 7-2 in another Palatine quarterfinal.
Maine West 3, Nazareth 1: The ninth-seeded Warriors upset the top-seeded Roadrunners in the Fenwick regional quarterfinal and advanced to today’s 2 p.m. semifinal against No. 4 Oak Park-River Forest, which won the spring Class 4A state title. Maine West won its tourney opener 3-0 over No. 8 Fenwick.