By Sean Duncan
Executive Director

FLOSSMOOR, IL - It had the makings of being a short outing for Sandburg junior ace Evan Tenuta, as the Notre Dame recruit got touched up for two runs on three hits in the first inning against host Homewood-Flossmoor.

But Tenuta settled down shortly after, and the Eagles’ offense took care of the rest as Sandburg eventually cruised to an 8-2 Southwest Suburban Conference Blue victory Saturday.

Tenuta, a 6-foot-1, 190-pound right-hander who’s ranked No. 15 in Illinois’ 2018 class, yielded only two singles the rest of the way after the rough first inning to throw a five-hit complete game. Tenuta struck out four, walked two and hit one batter to help the Eagles improve to 15-6 and 5-3 in conference.

Tenuta pitched most of the game at 86-89 mph, touching 90 in the first inning, along with an often-sharp 77-80 mph slider. But that didn’t seem to daunt Homewood-Flossmoor (10-13, 1-7) early on. The Vikings got two quick runs on a run-scoring single by junior RF Zaid Walker, and shortly after junior CF Kyle Salley connected for a solo homer to left-center to give the Vikings a 2-1 lead after the first inning.

Sandburg’s offense ultimately broke open a 4-2 lead in the sixth with three runs, spurred by Branden Comia’s slicing two-run triple in the right-field corner. Comia, an Illinois recruit who’s ranked No. 4 in Illinois’ 2018 class, also had an RBI double to centerfield in the first inning and finished 2-for-4 with three RBI and a stolen base.

Junior catcher Ryan Hampe also had an impressive all-around performance. The 6-foot, 200-pounder went 2-for-3 with a two-run homer to centerfield and a run-scoring double. Hampe finished 2-for-3 with three RBI and a walk. Defensively, he gunned down the highly athletic Walker stealing second with a 2.04 strike on the bag.

Seth Masters walked three times and scored three runs for Sandburg, sophomore Tommy Windt added two hits and Brian Hughes had a run-scoring double.

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

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