PBR DAILY ROUNDUP

May 17

By Drake Skleba

Catholic Blue Final Four at Steven M. Bajenski Memorial Tournament

What many people believe to be the best baseball conference in the state of Illinois showed its mettle in the quarterfinals of the First Annual Steven M. Bajenski Memorial Tournament on Thursday. In games played at North Park University, Benedictine University and Silver Cross Field in Joliet, the mighty Blue swept to an all Catholic Blue-Final 4. (See Drake Skleba’s special report stories)

No. 1 Providence (26-6) will square off with No. 6 Mount Carmel (28-4) at Benedictine in a 7:45 semifinal tonight in Lisle. Providence swept the Caravan in their CCL-Blue series on the Celtics way to winning the outright CCL-Blue championship.

Watch game live at www.highschoolcube.com. The Cube’s Jim Leo will have the play-by-play.

No. 3 St. Laurence (28-4-1) will take on No. 22 St. Rita (20-11) at 7:45 at Silver Cross Field in Joliet.

Watch the game LIVE at www.prepbaseballreport.highschoolcube.com The PBR’s-own Drake Skleba will have the play-by-play.

Big 12

No. 9 Bloomington (28-6; 11-2) won the Big 12 Conference championship outright with a 5-3 win over Normal West (27-7; 10-3) at Bloomington’s Howard Starr Field. The Purple Raiders sent the overflow throng, pouring onto Starr Field, for a huge post-game celebration.

Raider junior Brandon Edwards broke up a 3-3 tie with a clutch two-run single for the Raiders in the bottom of the fifth. Red-hot senior Matt Mardis continued to scorch the baseball, falling a triple shy of hitting for the cycle and driving home the other three Bloomington runs. Purple Raider ace junior Kent Frantz (7-2) went the distance for the B-12 champions.

The two clubs could have a rubber-match for the Class 4A Normal West Regional championship, a week from tomorrow, Saturday May 26 in Normal at 11. West must get past Lincoln on Wednesday and Bloomington must defeat Mahomet-Seymour on Thursday for the ultimate collision in Normal on the 26^th. 

Central Suburban League Championship Game

CSL South champ No. 7 Maine South (28-4) blanked CSL North champ Glenbrook North 4-0 in the CSL Championship game in Park Ridge on Thursday. Hawk senior LHP John Forsythe (5-2) fired a no-hitter at the Spartans. Concordia University-bound Hawk 1B Nick Mitrovich drove in the only run Forsythe would need.

Metro Suburban

Glenbard South (24-10; 16-2) swept away Illiana Christian 3-0. Red-hot Raider Doren Blake went deep for the Metro Suburban Conference champions. 

North Suburban Conference Championship Game

NCC-Lake Champion No. 5 Mundelein (28-4) made quick work of the NSC-Prairie Champs from Vernon Hills 8-0 in Vernon Hills on Thursday. The Mustangs unloaded upon Cougar ace Tyler Feece (9-2) for a four-run, five-hit first inning. Senior RHP Matt Langlie (10-1) did the rest for Mundelein, firing a five-hit white-wash at the VH with seven strikeouts.

Public League Playoffs

Simeon (25-7) blasted Northside Prep 7-1 behind Oakland University-bound Shane Brown (6-1). Brown fired a two-hitter with 13 strikeouts and had two hits and an RBI for the JR-South champs. Louisville-bound Corey Ray had two hits and three RBI.

Lane Tech (20-13) shutout Von Steuben 3-0 behind Indian Jack McLaughlin, who fired a three-hitter with 13 strikeouts….Harlan (22-9) beat Taft 6-3 behind a two-hit, two RBI game for Falcon Andre Hogan…Clemente (19-8) surprised Morgan Park 4-3 in nine innings. Wildcat Max Quinones won it in the bottom of the ninth, sending the Wildcats to CPS Final 4.Junior Jonathan Figueroa picked up the win on the mound for Clemente.

South Suburban Crossover

Lemont (21-8; 17-2) defeated Oak Lawn 6-4 to grab a share of the SSC-Blue title with No. 13 Oak Forest (25-4; 17-2). The two clubs split their SSC-Blue two game series in April.

Southwest Prairie

No. 8 Plainfield North (30-3; 19-2) survived a great effort from Romeoville as the Tigers won 7-5 in eight thrilling innings on Thursday. Tiger junior Kurt Palandech led the Tiger attack with two hits and two RBI.

Minooka (22-12; 14-7) hammered Plainfield Central 12-3 behind a three-RBI game from Indian Austin Polcyn. T.J. Condon went deep for the SWPC-runner-ups.

Southwest Suburban Blue

Senior outfielder Austin Mastella hit a grand-slam and drove in six more runs as the Porters crushed Joliet Central 13-5 to grab a share of the SWSC-Blue division title. Mastela has a whopping 16 RBI this week for the SWSC-Blue co-champions. The Porters win the Blue for the second consecutive season for head coach Andy Satunas. The Porters were outright Blue champs in 2011.

Joliet West (19-13; 10-4) grabbed a share of the Blue with Lockport, as the Tigers routed Bolingbrook 8-1 behind junior RHP Jake Herron (6-3). Herron fired a six-hitter at the Raiders with 13 strikeouts. Sizzling Tiger Matt Koran continued his deadly assault on the baseball, Thursday with three more hits and two huge RBI for the SWSC-Blue co-champions.

For the second year in a row Sandburg (20-7; 9-5), lost its last two SWSC-Blue battles, giving up the opportunity to win the Blue Division title. Last year it was Lincoln-Way Central who played spoiler for the Eagles.

Homewood-Flossmoor (19-11; 6-8) made quick work of Sandburg, blowing away the Eagles 10-0 on Thursday. Heartland Community College-bound, Danny Lietz went 3-foor-3 with a two-run homer and plated five Viking runs. Viking Chris Michaels fired a five-hitter at the Eagles to improve to 3-0 on the mound for H-F.

Southwest Suburban Red

No. 4 Lincoln-Way North (29-5; 14-0) ran the table in the Red as the Phoenix blasted Lincoln-Way West 10-0 in five-innings on Thursday night. Phoenix junior RHP Jake McCabe (7-1) fired a two-hitter at the Warriors. Junior Josh Reid had two hits and two RBI for the undefeated SWSC-Red champions.

Andrew (23-9; 11-3) clubbed Thornridge 15-2 in five innings on Thursday.

Senior Mike Kane hit a three-run shot for the T-Bolts. Junior Zach Klockowski hammered a two-run bomb for the SWSC-Red runner-ups.

On Thursday May 25, the T-Bolts will travel to Richards (21-12) to take on the South Suburban Red champions in a Class 4A Richards Regional Semifinal at 2:30. The PBR’s Drake Skleba will be in Oak Lawn for all of the action.

You can watch the game LIVE at www.prepbaseballreport.highschoolcube.com at 2:30. The PBR’s-own Drake Skleba will be doing play-by-play.

Upstate 8 River

St. Charles East (21-9; 19-6) defeated arch-rival St. Charles North 6-2 at Fifth

Street Bank Stadium in Geneva on Thursday night to win the outright River championship. Fighting Saint senior Kyle Manske (7-1) fired a six hitter at the North Stars. Junior Tony DeFillipis tripled the first Saint run home and then scored on a wild pitch. Senior John Hondik crushed a two-run double to put this one away for U8C-River champions. St. Charles North falls to (23-12; 17-8).

Class 2A Momence Regional

Manteno (28-7) romped past Beecher 10-0 in five innings to advance to Saturday’s regional championship against I-8 South arch-rival Herscher (28-6) at 10.

Panther Joey Dileo (1-2) fired a three-hit shutout at Beecher. Senior 3B Billy Liss

doubled home a pair for the Panthers in the first inning and the rout was on.

Class 2A Seneca Regional

Aurora Central Catholic (15-17) surprised the ranked Coal City 13-1 in six innings on Thursday. Charger sophomore Andrew Bruss fired a seven-hitter at the Coalers to improve to 5-1 on the mound for ACC.

It will be an all-Aurora Regional championship game as the Chargers take on another ranked-for in city rival Aurora Christian (25-8) on Saturday morning at 11. Coal City bows out at 24-12.

Class 2A Richmond Burton Regional

St. Edward (19-16) slipped past Elgin city-rival Westminster Christian 3-2, at R-B on Thursday. Green Wave freshman Jake Lafrenz doubled home a pair of runs to tie the game at 2-2. Lafrenz then would score the eventual game-winner in the three run Green Wave third inning.

St. Edward’s junior ace LHP Jacob Koehring (7-3) fired a seven-hitter at the Warriors, ending the career of Westminster Christian’s ambidextrous pitcher Ryan Perez. Judson College-bound LHP Perez struck out 12 Green Wave hitters in his 4 2/3 innings of work for Westminster Christian (18-12). The Green Wave will face ranked regional host Richmond-Burton (24-7) on Saturday morning at 11.

Class 2A Wilmington Regional

Wilmington (17-14) won a thriller over Chicago Corliss 7-6 in eight innings. The Wildcats will host I-8 South rival Reed-Custer (11-26) at 11 on Saturday morning for the regional championship.

Nonconference

No. 23 Glenbrook South (23-8) defeated Highland Park 8-2 on Thursday.

Catholic White champion De La Salle (23-10) rolled past Fremd 8-4 on Thursday. Junior Ricardo Ramirez went the distance for the Meteors.

Prairie Ridge (26-9) defeated Burlington Central 8-7 in a possible preview of a Class 3A Sycamore Sectional Semifinalon May 31. The Wolves gladly took six unearned runs from the porous Rocket defense to win the nonconference game on Thursday. Burlington Central’s Tanner Scott went deep for the 13^th time this season. Burlington Central falls to (23-9).

Brother Rice (21-13) blanked Richards 2-0 behind a solid five-innings of two-hit shutout ball from Crusader Kyle Bernaciak (5-1). Redic Richardson and Brian Donnely each plated a pair of runs for Rice. Richards falls to 21-12.

Kaneland (22-9) blasted Cary-Grove 8-2 behind Knight Tyler Heine who had three hits and two RBI for the defending Class 3A state champions from Maple Park.