Monday, March 28 recap

Daily Roundup     
March 28
By Drake Skleba

No. 2 Downers Grove South (2-0) hammered Bighton (Col.) 9-1 in the Mustangs? opening-game in the Horizon, Arizona High School Invitational. University of Louisville
recruit 6-foot-4 Nick Burdi  lit up the MLB scouts? radar guns, striking out nine in his five-inning stint. Burdi allowed a run and two hits in improving to 2-0 on the mound in 2011. Mustang senior 2B Kyle Engle had three hits and drove in five Mustang runs.

No. 3 Nazareth (4-0) defeated Riverside-Brookfield 5-3. Senior 3B Anthony Baldassano had a pair of hits including a two-run double to lead the Roadrunners attack. Grand Valley State-bound RHP Patrick Kelly (2-0) picked up the win in relief.

No. 4 St. Rita (5-0) rolled past Richards 9-2 behind Mustang junior RHP Eddie De La Riva. Already committed to Purdue, De La Riva struck out nine Richards (1-1) batters in his five-inning performance to improve to 3-0 on the season. Senior Nico Zych, a Tennessee-Martin recruit, had two hits and an RBI for the Mustangs. Air Force Academy-bound C Brian Sicher chipped in with an RBI single.

No. 9 Mt. Carmel (3-0) hammered Lane Tech 14-1 in five innings. University of Indiana-bound 2B Chris Sujka went deep with the bases juiced to lead the Caravan past the Indians.

No. 11 Harrisburg (3-0) trailed No. 24 St. Charles North 4-0 as the game entered the top of the sixth. The Bulldogs exploded for four runs to tie things up and then added six runs in the top of the seventh to grab a 10-4 lead. The never-say-die North Stars rallied for four runs but fell short 10-8 at Rent One Park in the Miner Classic in Marion.

Harrisburg senior 1B Isaac Behme doubled home three runs for the Bulldogs. Senior Nick Borders tripled home a pair for the ?Dogs. Senior RHP Austin Younger (1-0) picked up the win in relief for Harrisburg.

St. Charles North (0-1) was led by junior 3B Jake Johansmeier, who was 3-for-3 with 4 RBI.

No. 12 Lyons Township (2-0) defeated Reavis 9-6 behind the booming bat of senior 1B Brian Rodemoyer. Rodemoyer homered, doubled and drove in four runs for the Lions. Valparaiso-bound SS Spencer Mahoney had a pair of hits and 2 RBI for LT. Senior RHP Connor Cuff threw three shutout innings for the Lions and chipped in with two hits and two RBI. Senior Tim Walsh added a two-hit, -RBI performance.

No. 14 Cary-Grove (2-1) defeated Murphysboro 4-1. Trojan junior Matt Byrne had a pair of hits, scored twice and drove in a run as the Trojans opened their Southern Illinois trip in style. Junior RHP Joe Spoelstra (1-0) struck out six in his four-inning performance to pick up the win.

No. 20 Neuqua Valley  (1-0) defeated Hinsdale Central 4-2 as senior Chris Medhurst
doubled home two Wildcat runs in the bottom of the fifth breaking up a 1-1 battle.
Wildcat  junior Nick Blackburn chipped in with a pair of hits and an RBI. Senior RHP Kevin Hodgeman (1-0) picked up the win on the mound.

No. 22 IVC (2-0) defeated Peoria Central 12-2 in five innings. Senior Trevor Black homered for the Grey Ghosts.

No. 26 St. Charles East (2-0) rallied past Dundee-Crown 5-4 on senior SS Luke Rojas? game-winning two-run double in the bottom of the seventh. Senior LHP Dan Ditusa improves to 2-0 on the mound for the Saints. Wes Benjamin struck out 7 in three innings.

No. 31 Normal West (4-1) scored the winning-run in the bottom of the seventh on a Limestone throwing error and defeated the Rockets 6-5. Wildcat junior 3B Wes Sery and sophomore C Adam McGinnis each had two hits and an RBI for West. Senior Kyle Vaughn  chipped in with a pair of RBI. Junior RHP Dustin Detweiler (1-0) blanked Limestone (3-3) over the last 2 ? innings to pick up the win.

No. 34 Burlington Central (1-1) fell 8-4 to Centralia. Senior RHP Nick Hahn (0-1)
suffered the defeat. Rocket junior Ray Hunnicutt homered for BC. The Rocket defense
collapsed in Centralia, committing eight errors.

No. 37 Warren (2-1) bounced back from a loss to Glenbard South and crushed Marion 14-0 in five innings. Blue Devil Caleb Haley had quite a day. Haley (1-0) pitched three shutout innings, striking out five to pick up the the win. Haley was 3-for-3 with a homer and five RBI to lead the Blue Devil attack.

No. 38 Huntley (1-0) slipped past Marengo 5-4 in eight innings in the season-opener for the Red Raiders. Sophomore SS Bryce Only had two hits and an RBI and sophomore Colin Lyman chipped in with a pair of hits, two runs scored and an RBI to lead the Red Raiders. Junior RHP Bryan Doherty (1-0) shut down Marengo (0-1) with 1 ? innings of shutout relief to pick up the win.

No. 41 Mundelein (3-0) defeated Danville 10-4 behind Mustang senior C John DeVito. DeVito had a perfect 4-for-4 day, with two doubles, a triple ,and three RBI. Valparaiso University-bound RHP Ben Maher (2-0) picked up the win. Danville (3-3) was led by Cody Burton who had three hits and drove in three Viking runs.

No. 42 De La Salle (1-0) clipped Morton 8-6 in the Meteors season-opener. Meteor senior Zach Wiseman led the Meteor attack with two hits and three RBI. Ricardo Ramirez and Sal Romando chipped in with a pair of hits each.

No. 48 Minooka (2-0)  defeated Lincoln-Way East 6-1 behind senior 3B Dakota Brown. Brown had a pair of hits and an RBI for the Indians. Junior C Nick White chipped in with a pair of RBI.

No. 49 Lincoln-Way North (3-0) crushed Rich South 19-0 in five innings. Phoenix
pitchers, Dominick Paolella (1-0) and Bo Venezio combined  for a five-inning no-hitter. Senior Jack Irace and junior Jack Troike each drove in three Phoenix runs in the mismatch.

Mahomet-Seymour (5-1; 1-0) won its Cornbelt Conference opener behind Parkland
College-bound LHP Jason Ziegler, blasting Prairie Central 11-0 in five innings. Ziegler (2-1) allowed one hit and struck out 10 and blasted a grand-slam to lead the Bulldogs to victory.

Chicago Christian (7-0) traveled to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida to win its seventh consecutive game on Monday. The rampaging Knights defeated Calvary Christian Academy 2-0 behind Knight senior LF Brian Deckings. Deckings singled home both Knight runs as Calvary Christian Academy falls to 8-6.

Von Steuben (4-0) defeated Maine East 5-3 behind a complete-game effort from Joe Negron (2-0) and Julian Calixto took care of the Panther offense. Negron allowed five hits and one earned run to pick up the win. Calixto homered and had a pair of hits.

Loyola (1-1) squeezed past Highland Park 2-1 behind Rambler 6-foot-3 senior RHP
Jack Marren. Marren (1-0) fired a five-hit  complete-game gem at the Giants, striking out five. 6-foot-5 junior 1B Fred Smart and  6-foot-3, 220-pound senior C Eric Hagman had RBI singles to lead the Ramblers.

Elgin Larkin (3-1) ripped Hampshire 7-2 behind Royal senior 1B Victor Saldana. Salanda had a perfect 2-for-2 afternoon with three RBI. Senior Miguel Villafane (1-0) picked up the win on the mound allowing three hits in his 5 ?  inning stint. Villafane tripled in a run and scored twice. Senior Trevor Whitehead stuffed the stat sheet for the Royals with three walks, a triple, four runs scored and a pair of stolen bases.

Plainfield South (1-0) slammed Herscher 9-1 behind Cougar junior Jake Roberts.
Roberts had a pair of hits and drove in three Cougar runs as Plainfield South handed Herscher (3-1) its first defeat of 2011.

Andrew (3-1) defeated Hinsdale Central 6-4. The T-Bolts were led by Brian Cobb and Pat Elget. Cobb went 3-for-3 with two RBI. Elget chipped in with two hits and two RBI.

Chicago Jones (4-0) ripped Kennedy 17-3 in five innings. Senior Martin Lara was 2-for-2 with three RBI and senior captain C Daniel Coral, doubled twice and drove in three runs. Sophomore LHP Matt Lipman (1-0) scattered six hits to pick up the win for the Eagles.

Glenbard South (2-1) defeated No. 37 Warren 4-2  behind a complete-game five-hit effort from senior LHP Brian Suffern (2-0). Suffern allowed no earned runs in his masterpiece. Raider junior Ethan Gasbarro drove in the game-winner with a clutch two-run single in the fifth.

Bloomington  (4-2) defeated Lakes 6-5 in 11 thrilling innings in Bloomington. Purple Raider senior Zach Jensen singled in the game-winner in the bottom of the 11th and sent the Purple Raider faithful home happy. Senior Scott Dilman (2-0) relieved sophomore Kent Frantz, who didn?t allow an unearned run in his 6 ? innings of relief, with one out, in the top of the 11th, and fanned the final two Lakes hitters to close out the 11th.

Metamora (3-0) blanked Stanford Olympia 2-0 behind a five-hit shutout from junior RHP Austin Lewis (2-0). 6-foot-4 230 pound junior 1B Andrew Christensen, went deep for the  Redbirds. Olympia falls to 0-3.

Mt. Vernon (5-2) blasted Benton 11-1 in six innings. Ram senior SS Pierce Borah doubled home two runs and junior C Grant Garrett singled home the game-ender as the Rams scored six in the bottom of the sixth to end the proceedings via the 10-run rule. Benton (5-1) had an RBI double from junior Tyler Leffler.

Mascoutah improved to 7-0 with a 9-2 pasting of Okawville. Senior 3B Konnor Huffman had three hits, including his first round-tripper of 2011, and drove in three Indian runs. Senior SS Tycen Wager tripled in a pair of runs and had two hits. Senior RHP Kyle Culli improved to 3-0 on the mound with a nine-strikeout performance.

Carrollton (4-0) defeated Bethalto Civic Memorial behind 6-foot-3 senior Sammy Coonrod (2-0).

Marmion (1-1; 1-0) defeated Aurora Christian 7-6 in a Suburban Christian crossover.
Marmion scored four times in the bottom of the seventh to pull out the thriller in Aurora. Senior Brent Minta led Aurora Christian (2-1; 0-1) with a 3-for-4 afternoon with three RBI.

Vernon Hills (4-0) defeated Anna-Jonesboro 7-1 behind WP Anthony Mazza (2-0).
Chris Marras led the Cougars attack with two hits and an RBI.