Hampshire’s Wilson Wemhoff dazzles in win against Schaumburg

SCHAUMBURG – Schaumburg’s Friday evening home game three miles from its campus at Wintrust Field came against a Hampshire team that had scored 76 runs in its first six games with each resulting in victory for Frank Simoncelli’s Whip-Purs.

Hampshire left with win No. 7 in an 11-1, six-inning contest.

“We’re just going one day at a time,” Simoncelli said.

“Getting better if it’s practice, if it’s [the] weight room, if it’s the game-one day at a time is the motto we’ve been trying to get to these players. That mentality and they’re buying into it. Good things happen when you battle out there coming in with that approach. We’re really preaching and they’re buying into that.”

Hampshire (7-0) got on the scoreboard after two outs in the top of the first thanks to a two-run Shane Pfeiffer single. The Whip-Purs junior shortstop took third on a throwing error, then scored on an infield hit by senior left fielder Eric Jackson giving them a 3-0 cushion.

That lead expanded to 5-0 in the next inning when an Ari Fivelson grounder was misplayed by the Saxons infield leading to his senior teammate catcher Nathan Kolder and junior right fielder Chris Whetstone, Jr. scoring on the play.

The Whip-Purs then took advantage of a pair of run-producing hits from seniors Anthony Karbowski (RBI triple) and Jack Perrone (two-run single) as part of a four-run fourth.

Fivelson, a senior center fielder, made it 10-0 when he came across home plate on a wild pitch in the top of the fifth after he had reached base being hit by a pitch.

Schaumburg (1-4) scored courtesy of an RBI double by left fielder Hayden Adamowicz that brought in shortstop Jose Melchor in the bottom of the fifth. Hampshire closed out the scoring when Jackson, now on the mound to close out the game, scored on a ground out by third baseman Jack Perrone in the top of the sixth.

While Hampshire was taking care of the game offensively, starting hurler Wilson Wemhoff was keeping the Saxons bats in check, striking out nine, as he allowed only two hits in four innings of work.

“At the beginning of the game, I thought I was doing all right. Second inning, I walked a couple of batters. Heard a couple of chirps from their dugout, didn’t really faze me that much,” Wemhoff said of his outing.

“I started spinning [the baseball] into the outside part of the [strike] zone, then I hammered it in with the fastball.”

Both teams return to play Saturday as the Saxons return home to host DePaul Prep, a Class 3A Elite Eight qualifier last spring, while the Whip-Purs host Woodstock North prior to embarking on a three-day trip to Kentucky where they will play four games.

https://www.dailyherald.com/20250328/prep-baseball/baseball-hampshire-routs-schaumburg-improves-to-7-0/