Tuesday May 18

 

By Drake Skleba

 

In the Southwestern Conference: O’Fallon (19-12; 11-2) took over sole possession of first place with a 10-5 pounding of No. 10 Granite City (24-6;10-3) and then clinched a tie for the Southwestern Conference crown with a 19-0 five-inning romp over last place East St. Louis.

 

O’Fallon junior catcher Austin Bossart launched a grand slam off of Granite City ace Zach Pearman (7-1) in the bottom of the first and the onslaught was on. O’Fallon received a two-run shot from junior Rob Bohnenstiehl and a solo shot from Cody Seeburger.The beneficiary of the offensive assault was Panther senior ace Miles Quintal, who improved to 6-2 on the mound. The Panthers can wrap up an outright Southwestern conference crown with a win at Alton on Thursday.

 

Granite City’s University of Louisville-bound catcher Jake Depew hit his 11^th and 12^th homers of 2010. The Warriors head home for a battle with Belleville East (21-5; 10-3) on Thursday.

 

In the North Suburban Prairie: Defending champion Lakes (22-9; 10-2) wrapped up a second consecutive Prairie Division crown defeating last-place Round Lake 10-0 in five innings. Junior RHP Paul Kukulka was perfect on the mound for the Eagles, retiring all 15 hitters he faced, striking out 10 to improve to 1-3 on the mound. The Eagles will host the North Suburban League Championship Game on Thursday at 4:30 versus No.4 Stevenson (27-3).The PBR’s Sean Duncan will be in Lake Villa for all the action.

 

In the Southwest Prairie: No.11 Plainfield North (25-5; 16-3) and No.14 Minooka (26-7; 15-4) kept pace with SWPC victories on Tuesday.

 

Plainfield North defeated Oswego 8-6 as junior right-hander Sean Renzi improved to 8-0. Renzi  allowed three runs in five innings and belted a two-run homer. Senior Jeff Paulson chipped in with two hits and 3 RBI for the Tigers who host Oswego today. The PBR’s Drake Skleba will be in Plainfield.

 

Minooka defeated Plainfield East 6-2 as senior RHP Mike Fotlynewicz improved to 8-1 on the mound for the Indians. Foltynewicz pitched five shutout innings, allowing two hits and striking out eight. Junior Dakota Brown had three hits and drove in two as the Indians stay within one game of Plainfield North.

 

In the Fox Valley, Valley: Cary-Grove (20-11; 15-6) moved a step closer to a third consecutive FVC-Valley championship as the Trojans defeated Crystal Lake South 5-4 on Tuesday. Trojan junior second baseman Mike Vilardo sent the Trojan fans home happy when he singled home junior first baseman Nick Richter with game-winner in the bottom of the seventh. Senior Steve Mihalik picks up the win in relief and improves to 3-2 on the season. Crystal Lake South (19-12; 13-8) falls two games behind the front-running Trojans.

 

 Dundee-Crown (11-20; 8-13) broke a 12-game losing streak and stunned Huntley 4-3 in eight innings. The Chargers scored the winning run in the bottom of the eighth when the Huntley defense imploded and scored the winning run on an error. With the loss Huntley (21-9; 14-7) falls into a second place tie with McHenry

 

McHenry (19-11; 14-7) was crushed 10-1 by Jacobs as the Warriors lost their third straight. Jacob’s Henry Giegeous fired a one-hitter for the Golden Eagles and senior Ben Albano hit his 15^th home run of the season for Jacobs (17-13; 11-10).

 

In the Fox Valley Fox: Grayslake Central (25-7; 18-5) crushed Grayslake North 11-1 in five innings behind junior SS Austin Miller. Miller had a pefect day at the plate, going 3-for-3 with four RBI to lead the Rams. A Ram win over Grayslake North on Thursday will clinch at least a tie for the Fox Division title.

In the Upstate 8: No.5 St. Charles North (28-4; 20-3) won its ninth game in a row behind a five-hit combined shutout from senior LHP Ryan Hudspeth as the North Stars defeated South Elgin 5-0. Hudspeth (7-0) pitched 5 2/3 innings. Sophomore Jake Johansmeier completed the combined shutout with 1 1/3 innings of shutout relief. The North Stars tallied their runs on numerous South Elgin (18-13; 13-10) errors and wild pitches.

 

Waubonsie Valley (22-8; 18-4) kept pace with St. Charles North by defeating Larkin 8-0 behind a three-hit shutout by senior ace LHP Kris Singh.

 

No.16 Burlington Central (30-1) defeated Sandwich 10-1 as Rocket senior catcher Austin Jarvis hit his 13^th and 14^th home runs of the season. Junior RHP Nick Hahn picked up the win on the mound and improves to 10-0 for the Rockets, who won their 25^th consecutive game.

 

In the Southwest Suburban Blue: No.18 Lincoln-Way Central (21-7,9-2) defeated Homewood-Flossmoor 5-3 behind their Lewis University-bound senior LHP Tom Helwich. With the win the Knights clinch at least a tie for the SWSC-Blue title. The Knights can break out the champagne on Thursday in New Lenox with another win over H-F.

 

The future Flyer pitcher fired a seven-hitter at the Vikings and improves to 6-1 on the season.Helwich hammered a three-run bomb in the first against H-F ace left-hander Aaron Hauge (6-2) to get the party started for L-W Central.

 

The championship is the first since 1990 for the New Lenox school. The 20-win campaign is the first since 2000 for the Knights.

 

In the Southwest Suburban Red: Bradley-Bourbonnais defeated Stagg 3-0 to create a three-way logjam in the loss column at the top of the SWSC-Red. Stagg (20-10.10-3) will travel to Bradley-Bourbonnais (19-8; 9-3) on Thursday. Bradley-Bourbonnais will play last pace Thornton today in a make-up game.

 

Andrew (19-10; 9-3) defeated Thornwood 6-0 behind a three-hit shutout from Dan Truesdale, who improved to 5-0 on the season for the T-Bolts. NIU-bound Jeff Zimmerman drove home a run for Andrew. Andrew closes out SWSC-Red play with Thornridge today and Thornwood tomorrow.

 

In the South Suburban Blue: Oak Forest (19-7; 15-2) slipped past TF South 2-1 in eight innings behind a sterling performance from sophomore Kyle Funkhouser, who allowed no earned runs and one hit in his seven-inning stint. Bengal Eric Foster won the game in the bottom of the eighth with an RBI double.

 

Lemont (19-8; 12-3) defeated TF North 9-0 behind a shutout performance from junior RHP Jeremy Santiago (5-1). Senior Pat Driscoll hammered a three-run homer for the Indians.

 

In the South Suburban Red: SSC-Red champ Richards (24-7; 16-2) defeated Reavis

9-7 as Bulldog RHP Carlos Rodriguez improves to 8-1 for the season.

 

In the Chicago Public League Playoffs: Two-time defending CPL champion Whitney Young (19-11) moved on to the semifinals with a 4-0 victory over Clemente. Junior RHP Jarrett James fired a one-hitter at Clemente and senior Steve Giannoni had a pair of hits and plated a run for the Dolphins…In other action, Lane Tech (14-11) hammered Von Steuben 8-2…Taft (20-7) stunned Simeon 2-1…Payton (13-15) advances to Fridays semifinals at Wrigley Field with a 9-4 win over Jones.