Wednesday, April 7 Roundup

 

By Drake Skleba

 

No.20 Effingham (7-0) rode the red-hot bats of Louisville-bound first baseman Chad Green and Cody McCollum to a 10-6 nonconference victory over Shelbyville (2-3). Green hammered his third home run of the season and was 2-for-4 with three RBI. McCollum had a 4-for-5 day, driving in four Flaming Hearts runs.

 

La Salle-Peru’s senior right-handed pitcher David Suarez fired a masterpiece at Morris in the NCIC-Reagan Division opener for both schools. Suarez threw a four-hit shutout, striking out an even dozen, in leading La Salle-Peru to a 3-0 victory.

 

Cavalier senior Tom Doyles’ clutch two-out RBI double in the bottom of the fifth gave L-P a 1-0 lead. The Cavs would add two more on Morris (5-6; 0-1) miscues. Suarez improves to 3-0 and La-Salle-Peru improves to 4-4 and 1-0 in the NCIC-Reagan. For Morris, the battle was their inaugural NCIC-Reagan game. Morris joined the NCIC this school year, coming over from the Southwest Prairie Conference.

 

Oswego (5-1; 1-0), behind junior Scott Allegretti, defeated Romeoville 5-2 in the Panthers Southwest Prairie opener. Allegretti fired a complete game, allowing five hits and fanning 10 Spartan hitters. Allegretti had three hits, including a double and drove home three Panther runs. The Panthers’ lone defeat in 2010 came at the hands of No.1 Naperville Central.

 

Barrington’s University of Illinois-bound lefty Rob McDonnell faced only four Notre Dame (5-2) batters in Wednesday’s nonconference action in Barrington (5-4-1). McDonnell (2-1) struck out all four, and picked up the win in relief, as the Broncos defeated the Dons 9-5. Barrington’s 6-foot-4 John A. Logan-bound right-hander Sean Buchholz started for the Broncos and allowed no earned runs and two hits while fanning 8 in his 4 2/3 innings of work.

 

Senior Anthony Brignola (John A. Logan J.C) ripped a bases loaded single to break up a 5-5 tie in the Bronco sixth. Senior Derek Foderaro doubled and drove home three for Barrington.

 

Breese Mater Dei hammered Nashville 15-6 in a nonconference game on Wednesday. Knights senior leadoffman Dylan Boeckner had three doubles and drove in a pair of runs. Senior third baseman Brett Dierkes had three hits and an RBI as the Knights improve to 4-3. Nashville falls to 10-2.

 

Correction: Benton High senior catcher Mark Uhles has 9 home runs this spring, not 10, for the undefeated Rangers. In his recent home run binge, I accidentally gave the power-hitting Rend Lake C.C. recruit an additional blast. Uhles is hitting .710 (22-for-31) with 9 home runs and 30 RBIs. Benton will meet Massac County on Friday before heading to No. 2 Harrisburg (14-0; 2-0) for the SIRR-Ohio Division showdown on Monday.

In a suspended game, Vernon Hills was beating Antioch 10-3 behind sophomore Chris Marras’ hot bat. The catcher went 3-for-3 with two RBI, a double and a triple. Zach Kisley also had two hits, two runs and an RBI in the game.