Tuesday May 11

By Drake Skleba

No.13 Chatham Glenwood  senior RHP Bryce Sablotny (6-1) fired a complete game four-hitter and St. Joseph’s College-bound Titan CF Jared Turner hit a grand slam as the Titans defeated Lincoln 8-2 in a Central State 8 Conference battle on Tuesday. With the win, Glenwood (20-4; 11-0) clinches a tie for their fifth consecutive CS8 title. The win was their 29^th consecutive CS8 victory and the Titans 20^th for the 2010 campaign.

 

Sablotny allowed no earned runs and fanned 10 Lincoln (14-14; 8-3) hitters. Illinois State-bound 3B Jake Ingold hammered a two-run shot for the Titans…Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin (13-8; 8-3) defeated Springfield Southeast 14-2 in five innings. Watch out for the Cyclones … SHG won for the ninth time in their last 10 games.

 

In the Southwestern Conference: No.14 Granite City (22-5;9-2) hit five home runs as the Warriors crushed Belleville West 15-4 on Tuesday. Warriors Jake De Pew (10^th), Cody Daily (6^th), Brett Pearman (3^rd), Kyle Varble (2^nd) and Danny Hutchins, who hit his first, all went deep for Granite City. Daily was the recipient of the onslaught and improved to 6-2 on the mound.

 

O’Fallon (16-11; 9-2) stayed in a first place tie with Granite City with a 9-4 win over Collinsville. The Panthers were led by junior Matt Meadows, who homered, his second, and drove in four Panther runs…Belleville East (20-6; 9-3) blanked Alton 4-0 behind a four-hit shutout from ace RHP Kenny May. May improves to 7-2 on the season

 

No. 17 Minooka’s (24-7; 12-4) senior RHP Mike Foltynewicz (7-1) struck out 17 Plainfield Central hitters in his seven-inning stint on Tuesday and didn’t win the game. Minooka’s senior Dan Vogrin sent the cold and damp Indian faithful home when he singled home the game winner, in the bottom of the ninth, as the Indians defeated the Wildcats 2-1.

 

Minooka super-sophomore LHP Josh Jimenez picked up the win in relief and improved to 9-0 on the season. Plainfield Central’s Oakton Community College-bound RHP Derek DeYoung almost matched Foltynewicz, striking out 12 and allowing a run and three hits in his eight-inning gem.

 

The Grey Ghosts are scary: No. 19 IVC (25-5) defeated Bartonville Limestone 12-6 in a nonconference game on Tuesday. The win was the eighth consecutive victory for IVC head coach Jerry Rashid’s Grey Ghost squad. IVC’s Bradley University-bound catcher Derek Sprout hit a three-run blast and then went deep with the sacks full as the future Brave catcher drove in seven runs.  University of Illinois-bound RHP Drasen Johnson fanned a dozen Rocket hitters in picking up the victory

 

No. 20 Burlington Central (27-1; 9-0) defeated Harvard 4-1 in a Big Northern Conference Red Division battle on Tuesday. The victory gives Rocket head coach Kyle Nelson the BNC-Red championship. Once again Burlington Central’s junior RHP Nick Hahn (9-0) outdueled Harvard’s ace RHP Chase Blazier. And once again Harvard miscues in the field were the downfall for the Hornets (19-7; 5-4). Hahn scattered eight hits but induced four twin-killings to keep the Hornets off the board.

 

Blazier (6-3) allowed only one earned run, and struck out 11, as the Hornets defense committed numerous errors. On April 22 at Burlington Central in a 7-3 Rocket victory, the Hornets committed seven errors, which led to their downfall.

 

In the Interstate 8 North: Coal City (19-11; 10-5) and Lisle (20-9; 10-5) both pulled within ½ game of North Division leader Sandwich (16-12; 10-4), who was rained out on Tuesday.

 

Lisle crushed Plano 13-2 behind the big bats of junior Nick Thome and senior Jon Koloski.Thome and Koloski each had a pair of hits and drove in three runs in the romp over the Reapers. Lisle will welcome I-8 South champion Herscher (23-7; 13-1) to Lisle’s Benedictine University on Thursday night at 6:30. Lisle’s Clemson-bound Jon Surber (5-1) will be on the mound for the Lions. Freshman Brian Van Volkenberg improved to 3-0 with the victory on the mound for the Lions.

 

Coal City was led once again by senior LF Tom Taylor in the Coalers 15-2 romp over Westmont. Taylor had three hits, including a long one and drove home six Coaler runs.Coal City will close out their I-8 schedule on Friday with a crossover game at Coal City with Manteno.

 

Sandwich will be at Wilmington today in a crossover game and close out their season, at home Thursday with Seneca.

 

In the Upstate 8: St. Charles East (19-9; 13-6) junior LHP Wes Benjamin led the Saints to a 7-0 victory over Elgin. Benjamin struck out 13 and improved to 8-1 with his complete game shutout. Saint senior second baseman Johnny Erickson drove home two runs and hit his school record 17^th double of the season…

 

In the South 7 Conference:  Mt. Vernon (23-4; 10-0) completed a perfect run through the South 7 with a 5-2 victory over Centralia (15-9; 6-2) on Tuesday.

 

T.F South (14-12) stunned Lockport 2-1 in eight innings on a perfectly executed suicide squeeze bunt by senior Eric Seufert.  Senior Cody Smith allowed a run and five hits in shutting down the hard-hitting Porter lineup. Smith improves to 6-0 with win and has a sparkling 1.46 ERA.