Baseball: Streamwood knocks off Elgin to end skid

Updated: April 25, 2012 12:36AM

Streamwood rediscovered its winning formula and snapped a nagging losing streak Tuesday.

The Sabres combined a dominant pitching effort by senior Dalton Lundeen with some timely hitting to notch a 5-1 Upstate Eight River victory against visiting Elgin.

Lundeen struck out 10, walked two and scattered only four hits in a complete-game effort as Streamwood (8-14, 4-9) ended a six-game skid and won for only the fourth time in its past 16 games.

“Hopefully this puts us in the right direction,” Lundeen said. “We’ve been struggling a lot lately so we needed a big win here. Hopefully we can get on a roll now.”

The Maroons were coming off a doubleheader sweep of the Sabres on Saturday and drew first blood in the final game of the three-game series. With one out in the top of the second, Ethan Henke executed a hit-and-run by drilling a double to the right-field gap to drive in Andrew Higdon from first and give Elgin a 1-0 advantage.

The lead didn’t last long as the first four Streamwood batters in the bottom of the second reached base and scored. Michael Smith and Richie Gorski both provided two-run singles through the right side of the infield to key the rally and give the hosts a 4-1 edge.

The four-run uprising matched the total number of runs scored by the Sabres in their past four games combined and provided plenty of breathing room for Lundeen (3-2). The veteran lefty was on cruise control down the stretch as he retired 11 of the final 12 batters he faced.

“Give credit to Lundeen, he was sharp,” Elgin coach Dave Foerster said. “I’ve noticed over the years with him that if you don’t get to him early, he really settles in. That was the way it went today. He just got ahead of everyone, and when a pitcher gets ahead of hitters he’s tough to beat.”

Streamwood tacked on another run in the fifth when Alex Morrow’s two-out single drove in Brandon Larkin-Guilfoyle. Eric Daly (0-5) took the loss for Elgin (6-14, 2-11) after allowing four earned runs on six hits in five innings.

Gage Teschner went 2-for-3 to lead the Maroons at the plate. Gorski was 3-for-4 to pace the eight-hit attack for the Sabres.

“It’s a crazy game,” Streamwood coach Steve Diversey said. “Some days we look great and some days we look bad. Today everything was clicking, and hopefully we can build on this. From this point we’re just trying to get better every time we step on the field.”

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