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Crystal Lake S. makes quick work of Dundee-Crown

Dundee-Crown baseball coach Tommy Parisi knew top-seeded Crystal Lake South had been a dominant force in every area all season long. But giving the Gators, who lead the Fox Valley area with a team batting average of .337, extra outs with their kind of offensive firepower, would hurt D-C real bad.

The second inning of the Gators’ 12-2 Class 4A Huntley regional semifinal win in five innings exemplified just that.

Using a 6-run second that included back-to-back hits by Nick Severino, Jake Byron to lead off, 2 Charger errors and a sequence of four-straight singles, South (27-9) rolled into the regional final, where the Gators will play the winner of today’s game between No. 2 Jacobs (18-14) and No. 3 Huntley (20-14) at 10 a.m. Saturday.

Severino finished 2-for-2 with 2 RBI, Byron 2-for-3 with 2 RBI and Jordan Van Dyck was 2-for-2 with an RBI. Four other Gators managed to have RBI as well.

“We’ve been hitting well all year pretty much and we kind of expected it. We’ve played these guys before, they’re pretty good,” Gators second baseman Tyler Salm said. “Kind of seen a couple of their pitchers before so we had an idea of what was coming to us.”

Salm, who had 2 hits as well, doubled to right in the first and scored the first run on Van Dyck’s single that ate up Kyle Bernhard at second.

Severino led off the second with a single. Byron followed with a double. By the time Salm came up again, South led 4-1. He then managed to reach on a Charger error. South continued with 4-straight singles, as Severino capped it with a single to make it 7-1.

“Anytime you can get a couple early, especially when you rally a few from one inning, that was huge for us,” Salm said. “(It) pretty much sparked everyone else. Once somebody on our team gets a hit we all kind of get going.”

Ryan Suwanski’s solo shot cut the D-C deficit to 7-2 in the fourth, but the Gators answered back. After Salm’s leadoff single, South loaded the bases, allowing Severino to hit a sacrifice fly. Byron’s RBI single, followed by four-straight hits made it 12-2.

“I thought we just kept hitting, hitting and hitting,” Gators coach Brian Bogda said. “And that’s something in years past we haven’t done such a good job of and this year we’ve done a lot better job of making those adjustments and that reflects what we’ve done so far this year.”

Gators pitcher Tyler Hall (8-1) kept the Chargers (9-21-1) down, allowing 2 runs on 8 hits, 5 of which came from Garrett Ryan (3-for-3) and Suwanski (2-for-2, triple). Tyler Gross (1.2 innings, 5 ER) suffered the loss.

“I feel bad for Tyler Gross,” Parisi said. “He wasn’t throwing bad. And you’re a senior, you’re pitching like that, it’s upsetting for the kid. There’s nothing more he can do with any defense behind him. It wasn’t just one guy making errors, it was all over the place and I’m not saying we would have beat South, they’re an excellent team, excellent hitting team, but it sure doesn’t help giving them more than 3 outs because they’re going to hurt you every single time.”

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