After long wait, Lake Park ends it quickly
After spending three hours and nine innings Wednesday trying to sort out the finale of their three-game DuPage Valley Conference baseball series, Lake Park and Glenbard North had to try again Thursday.
The Lancers quickly put an end to the suspense.
A run in the top of the 10th and shutdown pitching in the bottom half of the inning gave Lake Park a hard-fought 3-2 victory over the Panthers, who were vying for a three-game sweep in Carol Stream.
The local rivals played a total of 26 innings this week with the three games decided by a total of only 4 runs. No one was shocked the third game was close, although it was tough to imagine nine innings and darkness forcing a suspension from Wednesday to Thursday.
"This series could have gone either way, we could have swept them and they could have swept us," said Lake Park coach Dan Colucci, whose team jumped back on the bus and beat Raby 13-1 later Thursday afternoon in Roselle. "We're really evenly matched teams."
Anthony Gallina, who went 3-for-5, showed Lake Park (6-8, 2-4) was ready to go on Thursday by singling to center field on the first pitch of the 10th inning. He moved to second on a wild pitch, went to third on a groundout and scored on Mark Latoria's single up the middle.
Gallina also won on the mound after pitching a scoreless ninth inning to end Wednesday's action. Rhett Rapshus came out to pitch the bottom of the 10th against the heart of the order for Glenbard North (9-7, 3-3), and he set the Panthers down in order on a strikeout and two groundouts.
"We knew they were going to come out aggressive right away," said Glenbard North coach Rich Smelko. "Next thing you know we're on our heels. We've just got to get off to better starts. Sometimes it takes an inning or two for us to get going."
Lake Park scored twice in the top of the first on Gallina's RBI double and a wild pitch. Glenbard North got a run back in the bottom of the inning when Nolan Jasinski scored on Eric Orze's single, aided by an error.
The 2-1 lead stayed intact until Glenbard North tied it in the bottom of the seventh on Jim Krippinger's RBI single.
Both starting pitchers - Lake Park's Steven Joyce and the Panthers' Orze - were stellar through 8 efficient innings Wednesday.
"We needed a spark, and I wanted to go out there and show the team what I could do," Joyce said. "We definitely came out with a big win today."
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