JCA clinches share of ESCC title

JOLIET -- The Joliet Catholic Academy baseball team clinched at least a tie for the East Suburban Catholic Conference title Wednesday with a 6-5 win over Nazareth Academy.

Steve Kazak got the win on the mound, going 6 innings with 7 strikeouts. He allowed 4 hits and 2 walks.

John Ruettiger and Mike Nelson were each 2-for-3 with an RBI to help pace the offense for the Hilltoppers (25-5, 15-3), while Nick Ratajczak was 2-for-4 with a triple and an RBI.

Morris 7, Plainfield South 4 -- At Morris, Mike Henry used his arm and his bat to help the Redskins to the Southwest Prairie Conference win.

Henry (4-4) went the distance, allowing 4 hits and 5 walks while striking out 4. It was his fourth straight win. He helped himself at the plate by going 2-for-3 with an RBI.

David Balzer was 3-for-3 with 4 RBIs for the Redskins (12-17, 8-12), while Nathan Slattery was 3-for-3 with 2 doubles and 2 RBIs.

Brother Rice 9, Lincoln-Way Central 2 -- At New Lenox, Nate Dobrez went 2-for-3 with a double for the Knights (10-17) in the nonconference loss.

Providence 10, Richards 0 -- At New Lenox, Cooper Nink hit a grand slam and drove in five runs in the Celtics' (18-12-1) win. Ryan Ganser drove in 3 runs and Kevin Ross had 2 hits and an RBI.

Tom O'Malley was the winning pitcher, allowing only 3 hits.

Plainfield North 8-1, Romeoville 3-0 -- At Plainfield, a pair of Mikes propelled North (19-9,14-6) to a sweep of Romeoville in a Southwest Prairie conference twinbill Wednesday night. Mike Gislain (6-3) struck out five in game 1, and was aided at the plate by John Monge who had 2 doubles and 2 RBIs. Kasey Wilgiesicwz tacked on a 3-run home run for the Tigers

In the second game, Mike Klett (5-1) pitched 7 scoreless innings, striking out 6.

Steve Bledsoe had the game-winning single for the Tigers.

Lockport 8, Stagg 7 -- At Lockport, it took 8 innings before Matt Denton drove in the game-winning single for the Porters (17-8,9-3) in the SouthWest Suburban Blue showdown. Matt Willis picked up the win.

St. Rita 6, Lincoln-Way East 4 -- At Chicago, the Griffins fell to 18-8 with the nonconference loss.

Tom Lilja was 3-for-3 with a 2-run homer, while Lloyd Burchett was 2-for-2.

Reed-Custer 4, Chicago Christian 5 -- At the Class 2A Plano regional, despite putting together 8 hits, including Alex King's 4th home run of the season, Reed-Custer (17-16) couldn't overcome Chicago Christian. Matt Brown (5-2).