Baseball: Rugged Rubio lifts Mundelein

Reid Rubio bleeds ruby, no?

Or maybe Mundelein High scarlet.

Whatever the shade of red, blood dripped all over the Mundelein senior's right hand after he swung at a pitch in the second inning against Lake Zurich on Thursday. The baseball rode up on Rubio's hand and ripped up his knuckles, even though he was wearing batting gloves.

"It was bleeding on my fingers," Rubio said. "It wasn't good."

It was nothing that a Mundelein-red bandage couldn't patch up, at least temporarily. Rubio never came out of the game, and it was a good thing for the Mustangs, who beat the Bears 6-1 in eight innings to remain in a first-place tie in the North Suburban Lake heading into the final week of division action.

Rubio had a 2-run single in Mundelein's 5-run eighth. The University of Minnesota Duluth-bound catcher also put down a perfectly executed sacrifice bunt in the seventh inning of a 1-1 game.

"He had two great at-bats," said coach Todd Parola, whose Mustangs were the "visitors," even though the game was played at Mundelein because Lake Zurich's field wasn't playable.

"It didn't affect me at all," Rubio said of his wound. "We know we got to win all of our (remaining) conference games."

Mundelein (21-7, 7-3) has a home-and-home series with Warren (5-5 NSC Lake) next Monday and Tuesday. Lake Forest (7-3) and Libertyville (7-3) play two games against each other, while Lake Zurich (10-15, 3-7) will play Stevenson (7-3) twice.

After allowing a first-inning RBI single to Nick Sanders, Mundelein starting pitcher Will Michalski got locked in. He came one out away from pitching a complete game, finishing with 6 strikeouts and 3 walks.

"I found my release point around the fourth inning," Michalski said.

Michalski issued a one-out free pass in the bottom of the seventh but got himself out of the inning by triggering a 1-6-3 double play to send the game to extra innings. Fired up, the junior righty jumped high and hustled to the dugout afterward.

"That was just momentum," Michalski said. "I think I took that into the next inning too."

Up 5 runs with two out in the bottom of the eighth, Michalski was lifted. Michalski had retired the first two hitters on two pitches.

"We really weren't even going to have him go out there (to pitch the eighth)," Parola said. "But (bullpen) guys weren't ready. I'm not sure why.

"He did a good job," Parola added of Michalski. "I thought he got better as the game went on. His breaker got better. His changeup got better."

Lake Zurich starter Matt Svanson suffered the tough-luck loss. He had a 1-0 lead until doubles by Jeff Morton (2-for-3) and Brett Parola (RBI) pulled Mundelein even in the sixth. In the eighth, Svanson issued a leadoff walk to Morton, before allowing a single to Brendan Murphy. After Reece Dolan's sacrifice bunt, Svanson intentionally walked Parola to load the bases.

Drew Breitenreiter's RBI fielder's choice snapped the 1-1 tie and ended Svanson's day on the mound.

"His fastball had some good movement," Rubio said of Svanson.

"Matt's been pitching great for us all year," Lake Zurich coach Tom Reagan said. "He's been our ace."

Sanders relieved Svanson and allowed Ryan Fairweather's sacrifice fly. Rubio's 2-RBI single followed, and Jake Breitenreiter (2-for-3) had a bunt single to score the fifth run of the inning.

Lake Zurich had just 5 hits, including a pair by Chris Mosack.

"Our mistakes were mental," Reagan said. "That's been shooting us in the foot for weeks. We can't get over that hump."