PBR DAILY ROUNDUP

May 11

By Drake Skleba

Fox Valley Fox

Grayslake North (14-14; 8-8) surprised Fox Division champ Grayslake Central 9-5 on Friday. Grayslake North (22-7; 15-2) will battle North again today before traveling to Valley leader No. 25 Crystal Lake South (24-8; 15-2) on Monday.

The PBR’s Drake Skleba will be in Crystal Lake for Monday’s battle between FVC divisional leaders at 4:30.

Fox Valley Valley

No. 25 Crystal Lake South (24-8; 15-2) took another step toward capturing the Valley Division championship as the Gators chomped up Jacobs 10-5 on Friday. The Gators pounded out 15 hits, led by junior Jake Bigos who had three and drove home a pair of Gator runs.  Junior Max Meitzler hammered a monster grand-slam for CLS making a winner of junior Tyler Hall (6-1).

Interstate 8 Crossovers

Herscher (27-6; 11-4 South) clinched a tie for the I-8 South championship with a 14-1 romp of Sandwich in five innings on Friday NIU-Bound LHP Jordan Ruckman (5-1) fired a two-hitter with 10 strikeouts. Tiger Dalton Sproul had three hits and two RBI to lead the Tiger attack. Herscher will travel to Manteno (26-6; 10-5 South) with a chance to win the I-8 South outright at 10 a.m. today.

Coal City (21-11; 12-4 North) squeezed past fading Manteno 4-3 in 11 exciting innings on Friday. Coaler Brandon Shetina’s perfectly executed suicide squeeze bunt plated Dominic Durando with the game-winner and sent the Coaler Contingent into the streets of Coal City very happy.

Jackie Robinson South

Simeon (22-7; 12-2) wrapped up at least a share of the JR-South title with a

12-6 win over Whitney Young on Friday. Wolverine freshman Terrance Robertson pitched three innings to get the win over the Dolphins. University of Iowa-bound RHP Blake Hickman, coming off a serious throat injury, struck out nine in his four innings of relief. Hickman used his bat too, launching a two-run bomb and driving home four runs for the JR-South champs.

NIC-10

No. 23 Rockford Boylan (23-7; 15-0) won for the 19^th consecutive time on Friday, surviving an upset bid from the E-Rabs of Rockford East 5-4. Junior Danny Appino (7-1) picked up the win on the mound and Titan closer Joe Kubera, for the second straight day, nailed down the save.

The Titans will try to continue their devastation of Winnebago County when they travel to “the Reservation” and take on the Rockton Hononegah Indians in Rockton on Monday. Boylan won 9-8 back at Boylan earlier in the year.

South Suburban Red

Richards (18-11; 13-3) blasted Evergreen Park 12-0 in five innings to win the Bulldogs third straight SCC-Red title.

Oak Lawn (18-9; 12-4) finished in second place in the SCC-Red after the Spartans squeaked by Eisenhower 6-5 on Friday. Junior RHP Bobby Kametas (6-2) fired 3 2/3 innings of scoreless relief to nail  down the win. Kametas fanned seven Cardinals. Spartan starting pitcher sophomore Matt Dunne fanned eight in his 3 1/3 innings of work on Friday.

Southland

Crete-Monee (19-10; 12-1) won behind a booming RBI triple by red-hot Warrior Jim Cockle. With the win CM wraps up SC title.

Southwest Suburban Blue

Lincoln-Way East (16-11; 7-5) swept away No. 10 Sandburg 9-5 as Griffin

Dylan Pinto went deep with a man on to stun Sandburg (20-6; 9-4).

Lincoln-Way Central (15-12; 5-6) surprised Lockport at Ed Flink Field Friday night 2-1.  With Sandburg and Lockport falling, surprising Joliet West (18-11; 9-3) takes over the top spot in the wild and wacky SWSC-Blue. Lockport falls to (19-11; 8-4).

Southwest Suburban Red

No. 5 Lincoln-Way North (26-5; 12-0) outlasted Andrew 10-9 in eight innings (See Drake Skleba’s story).

Lincoln-Way West (21-10; 8-4) defeated Thornton 6-2 behind a five-hitter from Warrior Steve Skolarz (2-0). Skolarz fanned 15 Wildcat hitters. Warrior Ryan Clavena drove home four runs to pace the l-w West attack.

The Warrior will travel to Lincoln-Way North on Tuesday night at 6:30 and then host the SWSC-Red leaders at 4:30 on Thursday.

Stagg (13-16; 6-6) scored a pair of TD’s and a field goal in the fourth quarter to defeat Thornridge 17-0 on Friday night. Actually Charger senior 1B Kyle Belluomini doubled went deep twice and drove home seven runs as the Chargers crushed the Falcons 17-0 in five innings. Senior Brian Valcarcel was 3-for-3 with two doubles and drove in three Charger runs. Sophomore Ryan Donnelly (1-0) fired a two-hit shutout at the Falcons.

Upstate 8 River

Geneva (20-7; 13-7) did it to St. Charles North (21-9; 15-5) again on Friday. Leading 2-1 as the game headed to the top of the fifth, the Vikings erupted for 15 runs and destroyed the North Stars 17-1 in five innings. The North Stars are 16-2 in their last 18 contests. The two losses are both to Geneva.

Stetson-bound Matt Brandys (3-0) fired a five-hitter at the North Stars. The future Hatter had four strikeouts.Viking Bobby Hess plated three runs including the game-winner that put the Vikings up 2-1 in the fourth inning. Jake Weede added four RBI to the Viking onslaught. NIU-bound Matt Williams chipped in with three hits for the Vikings.

Geneva will host U8C-River leader St. Charles East (19-7; 17-3) at 10 today in a huge River Division twin-bill at 10.

Nonconference

No. 6 Maine South (23-4) beat Loyola 9-5 under the lights in Glenview on Friday night.

Mount Vernon (24-7) slipped past Breese Mater Dei 3-2 when Ram Colin Young laced a walk-off single in the bottom of the eighth to send the Ram fans a happy bunch. Ram senior Zack Jones picked up the win on the mound for the South Seven Champions.

Wilmington (15-14) surprised Aurora Christian 2-1 on Friday. The SCC-Gold leaders fall to (23-7).