In the end, Stevenson reigns

It was clearly a game of two weather patterns.

First, it was cold and dry. Home-standing Wauconda took advantage of that and fell a homer short of a team cycle in the first frame.

And then the rains came down on Friday afternoon. Scoring the winning run for Stevenson was leadoff man, Charlie Ling. And strangely enough, he scored that run after striking out leading off the Patriots' seventh inning.

"Baseball is a funny game,'' Ling said. "I know never to give up. I knew the ball was wet."

Ling reached first base after his strikeout on an error. He quickly stole second and raced to third on another error.

And yes, the rain contributed to another error as Ling scored the go-ahead run.

While the field was dry, Wauconda (8-7) led 3-0 heading to the fifth inning. The Bulldogs led 4-2 entering the sixth.

But finally Stevenson (11-6-1) pulled out an 8-4 win.

"I take them anyway I can get them,'' said Stevenson coach Paul Mazzuca. "It took us awhile to get our bats going. And we put pressure on their defense. We also had a great job by our bullpen."

Wauconda coach Bill Slicker was clearly pleased with his team's start.

"We came out ready to play,'' Slicker said. "We were putting the ball in play. We turned two double plays."

Jacob Bicknase had a double in Wauconda's first-inning rally. Kyle Harmon had the first of his three singles. And Joseph Schaer had the big hit in the frame with a 2-run triple.

In the meantime, Wauconda starter Collin Shrader took a 2-hit shutout to the fifth inning. That's when the bottom of the Stevenson batting order stepped up.

Christian Duffer, batting seventh, led off the frame with a single. Ninth-place hitter Dylan Molek doubled in a run. Ling's sacrifice fly brought in another run.

The Bulldogs got a run back, taking advantage of 2 Stevenson errors. With a steady rain falling, the Pats knotted this game up at 4-4 in the sixth inning. Willie Bourbon, Patrick Loeffler and Carter Baretz had the base hits and pinch hitter Robert McGaha checked in with a sacrifice fly.

"Give Stevenson credit, as they made the plays at the end,'' Slicker said.

It wasn't all errors in the Stevenson seventh. Bourbon had an RBI hit, and Loeffler's 2-run double put this game out of reach.

Wauconda didn't go quietly in the seventh. Harmon had his third hit and Schaer followed that with another single before winning pitcher Justin Stark ended the game with back-toback strikeouts.