Baseball

MAPLE PARK – The Kaneland baseball program has earned many honors over the years, including an IHSA Class 3A state title in 2011, but had never won a regional championship on its own field.

ROCHELLE – Mitchell Jordan heard the loud thump as his fifth-inning home run ball hit the left-center field scoreboard at Rochelle High School.

MAPLE PARK – Kaneland batters knew it would be a challenge to get on base against Sandwich starting pitcher Jake Roehn in Friday’s IHSA Class 3A Kaneland Regional semifinal.

Images from the DeKalb baseball team's loss to Dundee-Crown.

DeKALB – When the wind is blowing in at DeKalb High School’s Dave Pettengell Field, hitting can be a daunting task.

In the past four years the Hinckley-Big Rock baseball team has never had to worry about the catchers’ position – Mitch Ruh has made sure of that.

The Hiawatha baseball team’s season ended Wednesday with a 7-6 loss to Freeport in a Class 1A River Ridge Sectional semifinal. The Hawks fought back, scoring three runs in the seventh, and the final out was recorded with two runners in scoring position.

ROCHELLE – Rochelle only had three wins coming into Wednesday’s Class 3A Rochelle Regional semifinal against Sycamore, but Spartans baseball coach Jason Cavanaugh said he was “scared to death” by the Hubs, and he had a good reason.

Mike Mercado trembled with nervousness in the batter’s box. 

Genoa-Kingston baseball lost to Wheaton Academy, 6-0, in the Class 3A Burlington Central Regional quarterfinals on Monday, ending the Cogs’ season.

Statistical analysis has led to changes for the Sycamore baseball team.

Hiawatha defeated Alden-Hebron, 3-2, in nine innings to capture the team's first regional title since 2008.

BIG ROCK – A few weeks before the Hiawatha baseball team made program history by winning their first regional championship, Hiawatha baseball coach Sean Donnelly gathered his team in a classroom before practice and pulled up a video.

Genoa-Kingston softball swept Harvard in a double-header to complete its regular season with a record of 17-6 overall and 8-4 in the Big Northern Conference East.

SYCAMORE – The opportunities had certainly been there, coming from a variety of angles, but each – whether sailing too high or just wide – had missed the mark.

BIG ROCK – Hinckley-Big Rock pitcher Dutch Schneeman fired a high fastball with his final pitch of the game.

Editor's Note: This is the second story in a three-part series on pitching in high school and college baseball.

The DeKalb baseball team lost to Yorkville, 10-3, on Tuesday. The win gave Yorkville the outright Northern Illinois Big 12 East title as the Barbs fell to 11-16 overall and 5-10 in the conference. Sycamore finished a game behind Yorkville at 10-5 in conference.

DeKalb baseball is hoping to get in a groove during the last week of the regular season as the Barbs defeated Sterling, 10-3, in a Northern Illinois Big 12 crossover game.

Starting pitching determines momentum in baseball.

DeKalb girls soccer won its first playoff game with a 3-0 victory over Elgin in the Class 3A DeKalb Regional quarterfinals.

SYCAMORE – A few weeks ago, Sycamore baseball coach Jason Cavanaugh predicted there would be a time when his team’s surprisingly effective pitching would go through a tough stretch, and its unexpectedly poor hitting would need to carry the load.

The DeKalb girls soccer team earned a 1-0 victory over Sycamore on Thursday.

Spartans’ bad timing: Sycamore needed a win Tuesday against Yorkville to wrap up the Northern Illinois Big 12 East conference title.

The Kaneland girls soccer team beat Sycamore, 1-0, as the Knights got a first-half goal from Kiandra Powell off an assist from Courtney Diddell for the only score.

DeKalb girls soccer defeated Morris, 4-0, on Tuesday afternoon and clinched the Northern Illinois Big 12 East title after Sycamore and Kaneland played to a scoreless tie.

SYCAMORE – Cole Nelson describes himself as a “man of action.”

SHABBONA – A first-inning fastball to Hinckley-Big Rock’s Luke Winkle changed the entire complexion of Monday’s game against Indian Creek.

Genoa-Kingston senior Danielle Neisendorf set a Big Northern Conference record by clearing 5 feet, 4 inches in the high jump and won the conference title Monday. The Cogs finished seventh as a team with 37 points.

DeKalb girls soccer shut out Morris, 5-0, on Saturday to remain undefeated in the Northern Illinois Big 12 East.

Editor's Note: This is the first story in a three-part series on pitching in high school baseball.

DeKalb junior badminton player Tristan Draper qualified for the IHSA State Tournament after taking fourth place at Thursday’s Naperville North Sectional. Draper went 4-2, losing the third-place match to Lincoln-Way West’s Elizabeth Heise, 16-21, 11-21.

Scenes from the Hinckley-Big Rock baseball team's 5-4 win against Hiawatha on May 1. All photos by: Monica Maschak - mmaschak@shawmedia.com.

Colin Eggleson threw a complete game for the Sycamore baseball team in a 6-1 win over Morris. Eggleson allowed a run on three hits in the first, but didn’t give up another hit until the seventh. He retired 17 hitters in a row at one point, and didn’t walk a batter.

In six games last week the Sycamore pitching staff gave up five earned runs. 

BIG ROCK – There are always going to be those games where a team just has to take runs any way they can get them, Wednesday afternoon at Kenny Field was one of those games for Hinckley-Big Rock.

SYCAMORE – Sycamore baseball coach Jason Cavanaugh and the rest his team were finally able to breathe a sigh of relief.

With DeKalb softball trailing Morris by a run in the bottom of the seventh Tuesday, Sarah Friedlund hit a two-run home run to give the Barbs a 4-3 win at home.

Genoa-Kingston softball got off to a quick start and the Cogs’ offense never relented in a 11-1 victory over Richmond-Burton on Monday.

DeKALB – For DeKalb baseball coach Jake Howells, it’s impossible to pinpoint one thing for the Barbs’ lack of success in 2013.

The Sycamore baseball team swept a doubleheader with Sterling, winning 4-1 and 3-1.

SHABBONA – Indian Creek baseball coach Joe Piekarz knew things would be tough for his club coming into Saturday's doubleheader against visiting Plano, especially when it came to pitching.

Sycamore baseball coach Jason Cavanaugh probably could have let pitcher Cole Nelson finish his start Tuesday against DeKalb. After all, the junior allowed only six hits through the first six innings of Monday’s 4-2 win.

Sycamore baseball broke open a tie game late with four runs in both the sixth and seventh innings for a 10-2 win over Rochelle on Thursday.

Sycamore baseball dominated Rochelle with an 18-0 victory Wednesday at home.

DeKalb's win was dramatic tribute

Hinckley-Big Rock girls soccer couldn’t rally back from an early three-goal deficit in a 3-2 loss to Timothy Christian.

Dealing with difficult fishing conditions at Shabbona Lake, Indian Creek's bass fishing team needed only one fish to capture the IHSA sectional title.

DeKALB – Throughout the season, Sycamore baseball coach Jason Cavanaugh has been frustrated with his team’s desire to swing for the fences every time the Spartans step to the plate. The home runs haven’t been coming, and the offense hasn’t produced like Cavanaugh expected it to this season.

Genoa-Kingston softball swept at doubleheader Saturday at Mendota. The Cogs won the first game, 7-4. Danielle Engel got the win while Baylie Ullmark got the save, striking out five over the last two innings.