Gene Chamberlain’s baseball notes

Wild wild Valley. Winning the Fox Valley Valley race will require a complete season. Although Jacobs led with a 10-1 record just past halfway through, Huntley was a game back in the loss column and McHenry, Cary-Grove and Dundee-Crown two back. “We know that every single game is going to be difficult,” Jacobs coach Jamie Murray said.

Trout Park, field of dreams. Larkin coach Matt Esterino and Elgin’s Dave Foerster love the use of Trout Park for their city series. They conveyed thanks to groundskeeper Bill Rieke for use of the field, even when a rainout date was involved. “It’s the nicest field in Elgin,” Esterino said. “We both appreciate (them) letting us out here.”

The name game. Elgin likes its young players. The Maroons have three players up from the freshman-sophomore ranks — Eric Whiteman, Eddy Ramos and Brandon Stork. The three get the good-natured treatment from veterans in terms of nicknames. “One of them is ‘Rook,’ one is ‘Young Blood’ and one of them is ‘Junior,’” Elgin DH Ryan Sitter said. “It’s kind of our way of putting them in their place, but also a way of including them in the team.”