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South Elgin downs Lake Park to reach sectional final

South Elgin starting pitcher Max Keough won a battle of wills against the Lake Park batting order in a 4-1 Class 4A sectional baseball semifinal win at St. Charles East Thursday.

Lake Park coach Dan Colucci said the Lancers "kind of knew the book" on Keough, which is to attack the right-hander's fastball early in counts before he can dazzle with his sharp curve.

Keough had a different plan.

The Wisconsin-Oshkosh signee threw first-pitch strikes to 16 of the 29 batters he faced without leaving much over the heart of the plate. When the count turned in his favor, the senior relied on his "out" pitch: the breaking ball in the dirt.

The result was a complete-game 4-hitter in which he struck out 9 and issued 1 walk.

"I was just trying to hit the corners and then finish them with curveballs out of the zone," Keough said.

The victory advances No. 7 South Elgin (24-7) to a sectional final for the second straight year. The Storm will face No. 4 Glenbard North (25-10) on Saturday at 10 a.m. The Panthers, champions of the DuPage Valley Conference, knocked off top sectional seed St. Charles North 1-0 in Wednesday's semifinal.

Senior Joey Roberson's no-doubt, 2-run home run in the first inning gave Keough all the run support he would need. After Nick Menken drew a two-out walk, the left-handed hitter turned on a first-pitch fastball from Lake Park right-hander Connor Cook and deposited it over the right-field fence to draw first blood.

"They threw me inside and I just had to drive it that way," Roberson said of his second home run of the season.

The Storm added a run in the third inning when Cook attempted to pick off Kevin Barry at third base. The throw glanced off the third baseman's mitt for an error and Barry raced home to give South Elgin a 3-0 lead.

Lake Park (15-22) got on the board in the top of the fifth. James Palmer reached on a one-out error by Roberson at first base and Colin Jamison followed with a single to right field. No. 9 hitter Brody Thompson then blooped a single to shallow center field, scoring Palmer to trim the Lancers' deficit to 3-1.

However, Keough minimized the damage by getting leadoff hitter Colin Fowich to fly out before he struck out Cook to end the uprising.

"When we did have runners in scoring position, that's when he did his best work," Colucci said of Keough.

South Elgin's tiring pitcher found more trouble in the sixth when Michael Nielsen led off with a single and Zach Zimmerman drew a walk.

With Saturday's probable starting pitcher, Ryan Weiss, warming up in the bullpen alongside Austin Sayre, Keough induced a popup from No. 5 hitter AJ Ackerley for the first out. He then coaxed a groundball to third base off the bat of Joe Kennedy. Storm third baseman Kyle Hays fielded the ball, stepped on third and fired to first to complete an inning-ending double play.

"When I saw him corral it I knew he'd be able to get to three and get it to one," Keough said. "It felt real good."

South Elgin's pitcher finished off his 97-pitch performance by striking out Jamison and Thompson consecutively to end the game.

"Max gutted it out," South Elgin coach Jim Kating said. "Max was sharp at the beginning and he was losing it just a little bit there at the end. He beared down and he got the last three outs in that (seventh) inning and he was big saving our pitching staff that way."

Colucci credited the Storm for the way they played. He also credited his team for winning a regional title.

"We were a better team than a 14 seed and I think these guys knew that," Colucci said. "I kept stressing let's play our best baseball the end of the year and we did. We played clean baseball. We swung the bat really well in the regionals and picked up the ball really well in the regionals. We've got a group of kids that can play the game."

  South Elgin pitcher Max Keough underhands the ball to first baseman Joe Roberson to put out the first Lake Park batter in Class 4A sectional semifinal play at St. Charles East on Thursday. John Starks/ jstarks@dailyherald.com
  South Elgin's Dan Asa scores in the bottom of the fifth inning as Lake Park's Michael Nielsen receives the throw in Class 4A sectional semifinal play at St. Charles East on Thursday. John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.com
  South Elgin's Nick Menken rolls on the turf after being tagged out at third base by Lake Park's Connor Cook in the Class 4A sectional semifinal game at St. Charles East High School Thursday. he was trying to advance from first base on an overthrow. John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.com
  South Elgin's Nick Menken reacts after hitting a triple in the sixth inning against Lake Park in the Class 4A sectional semifinal game at St. Charles East High School Thursday. John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.com
  The Lake Park bench does all it can to entice a rally in the last inning against South Elgin in the Class 4A sectional semifinal game at St. Charles East High School Thursday. It didn't work and South Elgin won 4-1. John Starks/jstarks@dailyherald.com
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