Baseball / Lake County roundup
Libertyville's baseball team barely beat darkness by barely beating Warren on Tuesday.
Noah Greenberg's walk-off RBI double in the bottom of the 11th lifted the host Wildcats to a 1-0 win in North Suburban Lake Division action.
Libertyville (21-5) improved to 8-1 in the division, a game ahead of second-place Mundelein. Warren fell to 4-7 in the NSC Lake and will host Libertyville today.
It was a pitcher's dual between Libertyville's Jeff Barton and Warren's Andrew Hill. Barton threw 9 innings, striking out 10, walking one and scattering 7 hits. Hill suffered the tough-luck loss.
Pat Wales earned the win, throwing 2 no-hit innings with 5 strikeouts.
Grant 10, Antioch 0: Andrew Stone threw a 6-inning 2-hit shutout in the North Suburban Prairie contest.
Grant (19-6, 7-2) was led offensively by Simeon Lucas (2-for-5, double, 2 RBI), Matt Mason (2-for-3, 2 walks, RBI) and Will Zitkus (2-for-2, 2 walks, 2 RBI).
Nick Muskat and Adam Harvey had Antioch's only hits.
Vernon Hills 15, Round Lake 5: Nick Newman (6-1) received plenty of run support in the North Suburban Prairie game.
It was the 20th win for Vernon Hills, which improved to 7-2 in the division. Jake Boyer, Connor McNamara and Jacob Feece all had multiple hits to pace the offense.
Lakes 3, Wauconda 2: The Eagles pulled out a victory in the bottom of the seventh to remain tied atop the North Suburban Prairie with Vernon Hills and Grant.
Senior Vince Rotunno started on the mound for Lakes (14-10, 7-2) and pitched well, going 6 1/3 innings, allowing just 2 runs on 6 hits.
Junior Bill Morris came on with one out in the seventh with runners on first and second. He struck out the first hitter he faced. The next hitter reached on an error to load the bases, before Morris struck out the final hitter to preserve the tie.
With the game tied at 2-2 heading into the bottom of the seventh, junior Bryan Gross led off for the Eagles with a single to center field. After a failed bunt attempt and fly out, junior Chase Slota drew a walk to put runners on first and second.
Junior Justin Blasinski then singled to left-center field, driving in Gross and giving the Eagles the win.
Grayslake Central 4, Lake Park 0: The Rams kept rolling, as they got their 10th win in 11 games and fourth in a row.
Grayslake Central (18-9) has not allowed a run in its last three games.
Kyle Henke got the start on the mound and threw 4 innings. He struck out two, didn't walk a batter and allowed only 3 hits.
"Kyle's command was excellent," said coach Troy Whalen, adding Henke threw only 49 pitches, including 35 for strikes.
Russ Lundius pitched the final 3 innings to earn the save for Grayslake Central. He allowed just 1 hit, struck out one and didn't walk a batter.
The Rams started the scoring in the bottom of the first, as Sam Nozicka roped a double to left field, advanced to third on a passed ball and scored on Freddie Landers' sacrifice fly.
Mike Stone added a sacrifice fly in the fourth, and Landers doubled home 2 runs in the fifth.
Kyle Clark and Pat Burba also had hits for the Rams.
Grayslake Central 6, University High 0: In a nonconference game shortened due to inclement weather Monday, Kyle Clark, who usually plays first base, pitched 3 innings for the win, giving up only 2 hits and 2 walks.
The Rams' Justin Dooley tossed the final 2 innings, allowing only 1 hit.
Grayslake Central got 2 hits apiece from Jay Hoffmann and Scotty Christian (2 RBI). Matt Loeffl walked twice and also had a 2-run double. Anthony Fitzgerald and Clark doubled as well.