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Streamwood completes sweep of Larkin
Updated: May 5, 2011 10:00PM
STREAMWOOD — Dalton Lundeen dug in his heels on the mound and his Streamwood teammates dug deep at the plate to complete a three-game sweep of Larkin on Thursday.
Lundeen found himself trailing by a run when he served up a solo homer to Kyle Newquist with one out in the top of the fourth, but the junior lefty kept his team within striking distance by retiring 11 of the next 12 batters. That persistence was rewarded when Alex Morrow, Richie Gorski and Tim Cohen came through with clutch at-bats down the stretch to lift the Sabres to a 3-2 Upstate Eight Conference River Division win.
Streamwood’s comeback derailed a strong complete-game outing from Larkin starter Miguel Villafane as the Royals (9-12, 3-10) lost to their District U46 rival for the third day in a row. Lundeen (5-0) was even tougher on the hill, tossing a complete game of his own with 12 strikeouts and only one walk as the Sabres (19-2, 13-2) won their fifth in a row.
“I was thinking don’t walk this next guy after the home run, and after I got him out it started going downhill and I started getting outs,” Lundeen said. “Villafane had a great outing and pitched really well, but it was good to see our bats come alive late.”
Newquist’s homer gave Larkin a 2-1 lead, and that’s where the score stayed until Morrow came to the plate for Streamwood to lead off the bottom of the fifth. The junior left fielder tied the score at 2 with one swing of the bat as he took a pitch on the outer half of the plate and drilled it well beyond the right-field fence for an opposite-field home run.
That same approach led to the go-ahead run for the Sabres in the bottom of the sixth as Richie Gorski led off with a double into the gap in right field and scored when Tim Cohen followed with an RBI single down the right-field line.
“We told our kids to keep battling and stay with it,” Streamwood coach Steve Diversey said. “(Larkin) started pitching away and Morrow finally got a hold of one and it went out. It was the same thing for Gorski and Cohen.
“The guys have the mentality that it’s a marathon and not a sprint. We’ve got 21 outs to play the game, and they don’t seem to get tighter as the game goes on.”
The Royals scored the game’s first run in the second when Newquist reached on a fielder’s choice and came home on Robbie Rybakowski’s two-out RBI single. The Sabres then knotted the score at 1 in the third with the help of a controversial call.
With one out and Pat Manning aboard at second, Gorski hit a shot toward first that landed near the line. After some brief hesitation, the home-plate umpire ruled the ball fair, allowing Manning to score on the single despite a protest from Larkin coach Matt Esterino.
Although the close call loomed large in the aftermath, Esterino said his team’s lack of run support for Villafane (3-3) was the main reason for the loss. The senior hurler struck out six and allowed three runs on five hits.
“Our approach at the plate hurt us today,” Esterino said. “No disrespect to their pitcher, but we had way too many strikeouts. We’ve got to score more than two runs because Miguel definitely pitched well enough to win.”
Rybakowski went 2-for-3 to lead Larkin’s five-hit attack. Gorski (2-for-3) and Manning (two stolen bases) paced the offense for Streamwood, which earlier in the day learned it is the No. 1 seed in the Hoffman Estates Class 4A Regional, which takes place later this month.
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