South Elgin sets school record for wins

Updated: May 18, 2011 9:02PM

Back-to-back 20 win seasons and a school-record 21 wins this year won’t win you much good will with South Elgin baseball coach Jim Kating.
Doing little things correctly during the game and trying to be better than expectations keeps you from Kating’s wrath, even if the result is a solid 6-0 win like the Storm had Wednesday afternoon against Bartlett.
“We’re scratching and clawing for a conference championship so it’s a great time to be preparing for the stresses and strains of playoff baseball,” said Kating, visibly upset at his team after the game. “So no, I’m not happy with the way we’re going about things right now.”
Regardless, South Elgin (21-8, 14-8 in the Upstate Eight) picked up a dominating pitching performance from sophomore starter Chris Munson as the lefty allowed just two hits and a walk over seven innings to shut out the Hawks (12-17, 8-13).
“Chris did a great job today,” Kating said. “He came in and threw strikes. Coaches told me he threw 70 pitches. Seventy pitches in a seven-inning game? Great job.”
Munson allowed a soft infield hit, a soft single just over second base and didn’t give up a walk until the seventh, while striking out four.
The hardest hit ball all day came out on an 0-2 pitch to Bartlett No. 8 hitter Kyle Liepelt.
After two straight fastballs blew by, Munson opted for an offspeed pitch, allowing Liepelt to catch up and forcing left fielder Dillon Gardner to making a running dive to get an out.
“I went with the cutter 0-2 and it was a little low,” said Munson, who would be at Bartlett if not for the creation of South Elgin. “He put a good swing on it and thankfully I’ve got a good outfielder out there in Dillon to make a great catch.”
South Elgin cleanup hitter Jake Buhmann drove in two runs in his first two at-bats with a fielder’s choice groundout in the first and an RBI single up the middle in the third, giving Munson all the run support needed and giving the Storm a piece of school history.
“It’s an unbelievable feeling,” Buhmann said, “coming in as a junior and helping all the seniors out, getting to 20 wins last year and then coming back this year and getting 20 wins – 21 tonight – and hopefully making a run in the playoffs.”
Defensive miscues by Bartlett in the top of the sixth allowed the Storm to tack on four runs, the big blows being consecutive two-run singles by Kenny Lowden and John Menken.
“We allowed too many gifts,” said Hawks coach Chris Pemberton, whose team committed three errors. “We turned routine plays into things that really blew up on us and gave them the opportunity to score runs.”

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