PBR DAILY ROUNDUP

May 15

By Drake Skleba

Big 12

No. 12 Normal West defeated No. 9 Bloomington 9-3 on Tuesday in Normal (See Drake Skleba’s story)

DuPage Valley

Wheaton North (23-10; 16-4)won its third consecutive one-run game, rallying past arch-rival Wheaton Warrenville South 7-6 on Wednesday. With the win, the Falcons clinch a tie for the DVC championship. They will travel to South for a 4:30 game today. A win and the Falcons are outright DVC champions for the second consecutive year for WN head coach Dan Schoessling.

Naperville Central (21-11; 15-5) blasted West Chicago 14-1 in five innings to stay in the hunt for a DVC co-championship. The Redhawks will host WEGO today at 4:30 in Naperville. 

East Suburban Catholic

No. 21 Nazareth (23-6; 7-5) blasted St. Pat’s 10-0 in six innings on Wednesday. Roadrunner sophomore Pete Minella (2-0) fired a two-hitter at the Shamrocks with six strikeouts. Junior Kyle Piotrowski had a perfect 3-for-3 day at the plate for Nazareth.

Game two was suspended by darkness with the Roadrunners up 7-3 in the top of the seventh. Roadrunner freshman Mike Kogut allowed one hit and two runs in four innings of work to be in line for his first varsity win. Junior C Mike Stromberg has a perfect 3-for-3 game going with three RBI. Miami of Ohio-bound Ryan Marske hammered a solo-blast for the Roadrunners. The game will be completed on Thursday.

Metro Suburban

Glenbard South (22-10; 14-2) fired the opening salvo in dramatic fashion, in the big best-of-three series with Illiana Christian (22-8; 13-3) for the Metro Suburban Conference championship. Trailing 1-0 in the bottom of the eighth, in Glen Ellyn, Raider Matt Bava singled home the tying run at 1-1. In the bottom of the ninth, Eastern Illinois-bound Mitch Gasbaro stepped to the plate with two out and a Raider teammate on base. Gasbaro launched a walk-off two run bomb into the Glen Ellyn evening that sent Raider Nation dancing onto Butterfield Road, with a 3-1 win. The two teams will meet again today at South and travel to Lansing for the season finale on Friday.

North Suburban Lake

NSC- Lake Champ No. 5 Mundelein (27-4; 11-1) completed its 11-1 run through the Lake with a 7-4 win over Stevenson. Mustang senior Torr Randau was a bomb short of hitting for the cycle to lead the Mustang attack. 

Libertyville (19-10; 9-3) bombed Warren 15-5 in five innings.

North Suburban Prairie
Vernon Hills (25-6; 10-2) defeated Lakes 2-0, to wrap up the NSC-Prairie title and will host Lake Division champ No. 5 Mundelein (27-4; 11-1) tomorrow at 4:30 in the North Suburban League Championship Game.

Public League Playoffs

Simeon (24-7) smashed Kennedy 10-1 in a second-round CPS playoff game on Wednesday. Freshman Terrance Robertson (3-1) fired a three-hitter at JFK, with 13 strikeouts. Robertson had a pair of hits at the plate as well. Junior Sharoid Roach cleared the bases with a double.

University of Iowa-bound Blake Hickman had a clutch two-run single and junior Ro Coleman continued to do his superb job as Wolverine leadoffman. Coleman had three more hits, including a triple and drove home a run for the JR-South champs.

Morgan Park (24-8) beat Lake View 8-3 behind red-hot MustangThomas Clay, who had three more hits and drove home two MP runs. Mustang Rahman Williams went the distance to improve to 5-0 on the season.

Taft (27-4) beat Jones 12-1 in five innings behind Melvin Sanchez, who homered and John Guidone who had a perfect 3-for-3 day for Taft.

Jackie Robinson-North champion Lane Tech (19-12) blanked Brooks 10-0 in five innings.

South Suburban Blue

No. 13 Oak Forest (25-4; 17-2) clinched at least a share of the SSC-Blue title with a 9-2 pasting of TF South. Super-soph 1B Brian Richard had three hits and three RBI to lead the SSC-Blue champs.

Lemont (20-8; 16-2) blasted TF North 11-1 in five innings on Wednesday. Indian Alex Broskovitcz doubled, tripled and had 3 RBI. Sophomore Mike Papierski had a perfect 3-for-3 day at the plate with two doubles and two RBI. 

South Suburban Red

Richards (21-11; 16-3) won its third consecutive SSC-Red title with an 11-1

pounding of Reavis in five innings. Bulldog senior RHP Jordan Julian fired a three-hitter at the Rams striking out five. Junior A.J. Bray had four hits and four RBI to lead the ‘Dog attack. Junior Eric Hall had a perfect 3-for-3 day at the plate for the SSC-Red champs.

Oak Lawn (20-10; 14-4) won its 20^th game of the season, blasting Argo 10-0 in five innings. Sophomore Pat Dunne (4-1) fired a three-hit shutout at the Argonauts.

Spartan Cody Marek plated three runs for OLCHS. John A. Logan-bound 3B Mike Yacko had two hits including a triple and had two RBI. Senior C Kyle Smith and Alec Barnhart each chipped in with a pair of RBI.

The Spartans honored Head Coach Brian Clifton before the game. Clifton, a 1995 graduate of OLCHS, will retire at the end of the season to devout himself to his son’s Tommy complete recovery from a serious illness.

On Thursday night at 7:45 the Spartans will take on No. 22 St. Rita (19-11) in the final quarterfinal game of the Steven M. Bajenski Memorial Tournament at Silver Cross Field in Joliet.

You can watch the game, as well as all of the Bajenski Tournament games LIVE at www.prepbaseballreport.highschoolcube.com. The PBR’s own Drake Skleba will provide play-by-play and will be joined by The Beverly Review’s Scott Fredericks for his exquisite brand of color commentary. 

Southland

Crete-Monee (21-10; 14-1) wrapped up a 14-1 run through the Southland with a 9-3 win over Bloom. Red-hit Warrior continued his torrid hitting with two more hits and two RBI for the SC-Champs.

Southwest Suburban Blue

Sandburg (22-6; 9-4) blasted Homewood-Flossmoor 10-0 in five innings behind a three-hitter from Eagle RHP Mike Farrington (6-1). St. Joseph’s College-bound Dylan Rajkovich highlighted a seven-run Eagle uprising in the fourth with a grand slam to help keep the Eagles even with Lockport and Joliet West in the SWSC-Blue.

Lockport (21-11; 9-4) blanked Joliet Central 10-0 in five innings to stay atop the SWSC-Blue standings with Sandburg. Porter senior Josh Altman was a single short of hitting for the cycle and had two RBI. Sizzling junior Austin Mastela had three more hits and three RBI. Junior Evan Martens (7-2) fired a four-hitter at the Steelmen with four strikeouts.

Joliet West (18-12; 9-4) stayed in the SWSC-Blue penthouse with a 3-1 win

Over Bolingbrook. Tiger junior Quinn Ahern (4-3) fired a three-hitter, with seven strikeouts at the Raiders. Tiger senior Jeff Gersch hit the game-winning two run bomb for the SWSC-Blue tri-leaders.

Lincoln-Way East (18-13; 8-5) defeated Lincoln-Way Central 5-1 behind St. Joseph’s College-bound RHP Mark Chemello. Chemello (8-1) fired a complete-game masterpiece at the Knights with 10 strikeouts.

Southwest Suburban Red

No. 3 Lincoln-Way North (27-5; 13-0) wrapped up the Phoenix’s second consecutive SWSC-Red championship with a 9-0 victory over rival Lincoln-Way West. Junior Mike Miller (8-0) struck out 11 Warrior hitters en-route to a four-hit gem. Battery-mate junior C Ryan Pellack went deep with a man on and junior Josh Reid had a big three-run triple for the SWSC-Red champions.

Lincoln-Way West falls to (21-11; 8-5). The two clubs will meet again on Thursday night.

Andrew (21-9; 11-2) crushed Thornridge 15-1 in five innings on Wednesday. T-Bolt junior Dan Durkin continued his assault on the baseball with a 3-for-3 day at the plate with a bomb and five RBI. Senior Justin Silverman fired a three-hitter with eight strikeouts at the Falcons.

Southwest Suburban Prairie

No. 8 Plainfield North (28-3; 17-2) bombed Romeoville 10-0 in five innings. University of Notre Dame-bound RHP Joey Cresta (8-0) fired a two-hitter at the Spartans. Tiger seniors, Caleb Kissel and Kyle Bledsoe led the PN assault on Romeoville. Kissel had three hits including two doubles and drove in four Tiger runs. Bledsoe singled and homered for the SWSP Champions.

Minooka (21-11; 13-6) blanked Plainfield Central 1-0 behind a two-hit shutout from Bellarmine University-bound LHP Josh Jimenez (8-2). Indian senior Carson Neushwander singled home the only run of the ball game. Plainfield Central falls to (20-12-1; 10-9).

Plainfield South (20-11; 12-6) bombed Plainfield East 15-3 in five innings.

Southwestern

No. 15 O’Fallon (26-7; 12-1) wrapped up another SWC title for head coach Jason Portz with a 7-3 win over Collinsville on Tuesday.

Alton (22-8; 10-3) beat Belleville East 4-2 on Tuesday after knocking off No.14 Troy-Triad on Monday 11-2. The MVC Champion-Troy-Triad falls to 25-7

No. 18 Edwardsville (25-8; 10-4) defeated winless East St. Louis 24-0 in five innings on Tuesday.

West Suburban Gold

WSC-Gold Champs No. 10 Hinsdale South (26-4; 15-2) smashed Proviso East 10-2 on Wednesday.

West Suburban Silver

York defeated Lyons Township 7-1 to win its first WSC-Silver crown since the Dukes’ 1993 Class AA State Championship team. (See Sean Duncan’s story)

Upstate 8 River

St. Charles North (23-10; 17-6) defeated arch-rival St. Charles East 7-4 in eight wild innings on Tuesday at East. North Star Kurt Barbeau had two hits and drove home four huge STC-North runs making a winner out of Wright-State-bound RHP John Brodner (1-1).

St. Charles East (19-10; 17-6) will travel to the North Side of town to face the North Stars at 4:30 today. The PBR’s Drake Skleba will be in St. Charles for all of the River action today at 4:30.

Geneva (23-7; 16-7) stayed in the River hunt with an 18-1 destruction of Streamwood in five innings on Tuesday.

Upstate 8 Valley

U8C-Valley champs Neuqua Valley (26-7; 21-3) destroyed East Aurora 19-5 in five innings.

Nonconference

No. 6 Mount Carmel (27-4) defeated Marist 6-1 behind a two-hitter from junior RHP Jason Gasser (8-1). Caravan junior SS Jerry Houston had a 4-for-4 day at the plate with an RBI.

CSL-South Champs No. 7 Maine South (26-4) defeated Jacobs 3-2 behind Hawk senior RHP Rocky Saavedra (6-0). Saavedra, who has four saves as the closer, fired a seven-hitter at the Golden Eagles. Concordia University-bound Nick Mitrovich had two hits including a big triple for the Hawks.

Addison Trail (21-10) beat Morton West 4-2 behind Blazer Scott Babica who singled went deep and drove home two for AT. Greg Schultz also went deep and picked up the win on the mound for AT.

Brother Rice (19-13) blasted Montini 8-2 behind senior battery-mates RHP Jack Miller and C Mike Reilly. Reilly hit a two-run bomb and plated three Crusader runs making a winner out of Miller (4-1), who went the distance for Rice.

Catholic White champ De La Salle (22-10) defeated Mid-Suburban Eastchamp Hersey 5-1 on Wednesday. Western Michigan-bound RHP Pat Haynes (9-4) fired a complete-game gem at the Huskies and helped himself with a long home run.

Defending Class 3A Champs Kaneland (21-9) smashed Sterling 9-3 behind a two-hit two RBI day from Knight Chris Razo. Knight senior Quinn Bushbacher went deep for the NIB-12 East champs.

Tiny Morgan Park Academy (2-15; 1-9) won its first Independent School League victory since 2009, crushing Francis Parker 15-5 in five innings. Warrior sophomore shortstop, Tony Szafarcyzk, picked a great time to hit his first career home run. With the bases juiced, Szafarcyzk hammered a four-run bomb that highlighted the Warriors seven-run first inning.

Warrior junior Jason, not Justin, Timberlake, had three hits and plated two Warrior runs. Freshman Khobi Price had a perfect 3-for-3 day with two RBI

Sophomore Jacob Ellenby cleared the bases with a booming three-run double, making a winner out of senior Pat Donahue,who struck out four to pick up his first win on the mound for MPA.