By Drake Skleba

 

GLEN ELLYN ? Wheaton St. Francis? left-hander Eric Stout led his Spartans past Glenbard South 6-0 in a Class 3A Glenbard South Regional semifinal on Friday. The Butler University-bound Stout (9-2) fired a four-hit shutout at the Raiders with eight strikeouts to pick up his ninth win of 2011.

 

In the fifth, with the Spartans up 1-0, Stout hammered a two-run bomb over the right field fence. Game over.

 

?We have really worked hard on doing the small things and it really paid off,? said Stout. ?I pitched well today and my defense was great. My cutter was my best pitch and at the plate I concentrated on putting the ball in play. On the homer, I hit the ball hard and it went out. We really want to come out and play well against Montini tomorrow.?

 

With the win, the Spartans will face Suburban Christian Conference-Blue Division rival Montini (18-13) Saturday morning at 11 for the regional championship.

 

This one started out as a pitchers? duel between Stout and Glenbard South junior RHP Ben Gaspar (3-2). Both pitchers put a trio of zeros on the board in the first three innings.

 

With one out in the top of the fourth, Spartan sophomore Jack Petrando went deep to give the Spartans a 1-0 lead. Petrando was just called up Monday from the sophomore team.

 

?We played very well today,? said Petrando. ?Timely hits, great pitching and solid defense led to this victory.?

 

The Spartan defense played errorless ball for Stout, turning three double plays. The first was a fancy 6-4-3 variety with one out in the fourth inning. Spartan senior SS Joel Birch handled the hot smash and flipped to junior 2B Tom Ameche, who fired a strike to junior 1B Lonnie Hicks to keep the game 1-0 after four.

 

Ameche and Hicks would team up on a 4-3 DP in the sixth and the trio would close out the game on a 4-6-3 twin-killing to put and end to the festivities in Glen Ellyn.

 

Stout and Petrando each had singles in the game in addition to their bombs. Birch added two singles and scored a pair of Spartan runs.

 

?Everybody played their hearts out today,? said Birch. ?Eric was outstanding for us and we want to come out tomorrow and play well against Montini. It was good to get the bunt single and a solid hit for the day. We really practice hard on our double plays and today we put all together.?

 

?The key to this game was the turning of the three double plays,? said St. Francis head coach Rich Janor. ?We had a couple days of practice this week and it really helped us. Eric was outstanding on the mound for us. Jack (Petrando) was just called up from the sophomore team on Monday and we brought him up to do what he did today. Jack has tremendous power and can hit the ball out of the ball park.?

 

Glenbard South closes out a fine season at 19-13. The Raiders finished in second place to Illiana Christian in their first season in the Metro Suburban Conference.

 

?Considering the injuries we had this was a fine season for us,? said Glenbard South head coach Mike Riley. ?We have a number of returning players coming back in 2012. Expectations will be high for the Raiders next season.?