Tasty treat for Libertyville

Joey Eichmann delivered pitches Tuesday.

The Libertyville senior planned on delivering doughnuts this morning.

“He’s buying me some Munchkins over at Dunkin’ Donuts,” said a smiling Nick Coutre, who at 5 feet 8 is a munchkin compared to the 6-4 Eichmann.

Eichmann got a sweet dozen of a different kind for himself Tuesday.

A career-high 12 strikeouts.

Coutre homered in the first inning, and Eichmann did the rest, pitching a complete-game 4-hit shutout, as Libertyville blanked visiting Lake Zurich 2-0 in a North Suburban Lake Division contest.

“It was just one of those days where (catcher) Jake (Duguid) put the glove on the outside and I kept throwing it right there,” Eichmann said.

Eichmann (2-1) walked only one on a day the right-hander was throwing all three of his pitches — fastball, splitter, slider — for strikes.

Libertyville coach Jim Schurr said it’s the best he’s seen his three-year varsity player pitch.

“When he missed, he was around the plate,” said Schurr, whose Wildcats improved to 5-5 overall and 1-2 in the NSC Lake. “He was around the plate with all three pitches. He was able to locate. I probably called 10 pitches the whole game, and I think he missed one location. He and Jake just had guys figured out.”

Lake Zurich (3-7, 0-3) wasted a strong outing by its own starting pitcher, hard-throwing righty Ben Gullo, who allowed just 4 hits in 5 innings, striking out eight, including five in a row.

“Gullo pitched a heck of a game,” Bears coach Gary Simon said.

One of the few mistakes Gullo made was a fastball to Coutre with one out and none on in the bottom of the first.

The lefty-hitting Coutre belted Gullo’s pitch over the scoreboard in right field and across the driveway entering the high school.

It was Coutre’s first homer as a Libertyville Wildcat.

“First one since I was about 12,” said Coutre, Libertyville’s junior center fielder. “Just got my foot down and let ’er go.”

Coutre — who’s 20 minutes older than his fraternal twin Mike, a junior catcher/infielder on the Wildcats’ roster — also ripped a fourth-inning single off Gullo, before striking out on a nasty curveball from Gullo in the sixth.

“Ball looked really big today to me,” Coutre said. “Didn’t do so hot in that third at-bat, though.”

Anthony Mack picked up Coutre in the sixth with a bases-loaded sacrifice fly that was nearly a grand slam. Lake Zurich right fielder John Orlando ran down Mack’s long drive at the fence.

Eichmann needed only Coutre’s long drive.

“That homer was huge,” said Eichmann, who had a hit himself, an infield single. “He definitely gave us a lift early. That was a great hit. He’s got a lot of power. That was one of the farthest balls I’ve ever seen hit.”

Eichmann’s arm bailed him out in the fourth — and it wasn’t a pitch.

On a chopper hit by Zach Till, Libertyville first baseman Dar Townsend fielded the ball and flipped it to Eichmann, who missed the bag. Sean Eder, who had doubled with two out, rounded third and kept coming.

Eichman fired a strike to his batterymate Duguid, who applied the tag on a sliding Eder.

The only hit Lake Zurich got after Eder’s double was Eder’s one-out single in the seventh.

Parker Asmann also had 2 hits for the Bears, before a flu bug eventually forced him to leave the game.

Eichmann struck out the side in the second and sixth innings. Five of his strikeouts were called. That was inexcusable for Lake Zurich’s coach, who planned on having his players hit once they got back to Lake Zurich.

“We practice bad-ball hitting with 2 strikes, and those weren’t balls,” Simon said of Eichmann’s third-strike pitches. “He was putting it right on the outside corner, and we were looking at it. They know better than that.”