Prep Baseball Report

Elk Grove Jumps Out Early, Knocks Off York


By Drew Locascio
Illinois Scouting Director

Elk Grove and York squared off on Thursday afternoon in a Regional Semi-Final matchup held at Willowbrook HS. Elk Grove jumped out to an early lead and despite a mid-inning surge from York, Elk Grove moved on with a 9-4 win.

Arguably the biggest sequence of the game came in the top of the third inning with Elk Grove (18-12) leading 2-1. With one out and the bases empty, lead-off man Nick Hofmann, reached on a dropped third strike that got away from the catcher. Josh Periaswamy then hit a shallow line-drive to left that tipped off the left-fielders glove for an E7. An inning that probably should have been over, now had runners on second and third with one out. 1B Ryne Singsank (SIU commit) followed with a hard, two-run, line-drive single into right-center field. Singsank would later score on a failed pickoff attempt. Elk Grove left the top of the third with a 5-1 lead.

York (21-11-1) battled throughout and made it a game, scoring three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning, cutting the lead the 6-4 at the time. The clutch hit in the three-run fourth came from Joe Goehl, who drove a two-run triple to the base of the right-center field fence. Goehl would come around to score on a Clayton Letourneau RBI single to right field. Unfortunately for the Dukes, they were unable to get much else going the rest of the way and Elk Grove scored three unearned runs in the top of the seventh to ice the game away.

RHP Xander Rojahn (Xavier commit) got the win for Elk Grove and came one-out away from picking up the complete game. In Rojahn’s 6.2 innings of work he scattered five hits, four runs, struck out six and walked two. Rojahn settled in after a shaky first couple of hitters and at one point, retired 10-of-11 batters faced. Rojahn sat 86-88 mph with his fastball and went to his sharp-biting breaking ball often throughout. RHP Bobby Balzano came on and recorded the final out of the game, a weak ground ball to the first baseman.

A number of York opportunities throughout the game were squashed thanks to the impressive defensive performances from the left-side of the Elk Grove defense. Junior 3B Shane Crimmins and senior SS Nick Hofmann made more than a handful of above-average plays throughout the game that killed potential York rallies.

Elk Grove advances to face Willowbrook on Saturday with the Regional Championship on the line.

TOP PERFORMERS

+ C Zach Schwartz (Elk Grove): 2-for-4, RBI, R
+ DH Matt Crimmins (Elk Grove: 2-for-3, R
+ 1B Ryne Singsank (Elk Grove): 1-for-4, 3 RBI, R
+ 2B Josh Periaswamy (Elk Grove): 1-for-4, 3 R
+ 2B Clayton Letourneau (York): 2-for-3, RBI
+ LF Joe Goehl (York): 1-for-2, 3B, 2 RBI, R

For more in-depth notes from this game - and all other games that we cover - visit the Illinois Scout Blog.

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