Baseball: Breitenreiter's walk-off winner lifts Mundelein

Every athlete dreams of making that game-winning shot, or driving in that winning run.

The latter dream came true for Mundelein senior shortstop Jake Breitenreiter on Thursday afternoon in Lincolnshire.

With the score tied 6-6 against Lake Forest in the bottom of the seventh inning of the Class 4A Stevenson sectional semifinal, junior second baseman Steve Rzewnicki led off the frame with a walk and stole second. Then, with one out, he advanced to third on a balk, ultimately setting the stage for Breitenreiter.

"We were thinking suicide squeeze, but the infield was moving in, so I just swung away and got the barrel on the bat and let it go," said Breitenreiter, whose single had enough mustard on it to creep through the infield and into center field, driving home Rzewnicki with the winning run in a 7-6 thriller.

"It was the best feeling in the world," Breitenreiter said. "And our defense was phenomenal, especially in the later innings."

Mundelein (28-9) will play Warren - a team that it lost to twice during the regular season - for the sectional title at 11 a.m. Saturday at Stevenson.

Back to the defense: Two marvelous plays by Mundelein in the top of the seventh helped set the Mustangs up for the seventh-inning heroics.

Junior first baseman Brendan Murphy, an Arizona State commit, charged in on a sacrifice bunt and looked first to hold Lake Forest senior catcher Jake Durburg (double) at second base before rifling down to first for the initial out of the inning. Then, Rzewnicki snared a line drive and alertly fired to second to double up Durburg to end the frame.

"Phenomenal defense, especially late in the game. We really locked it down," said Breitenreiter, who finished 2-for-3 with 2 singles, a sacrifice, and the big RBI to end the game.

Thanks to three Scouts errors and 2 stolen bases, the Mustangs had jumped to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Murphy hit a bomb over the center fielder's head to plate senior left fielder Ryan Fairweather and junior third baseman Nick Stricker, both who had reached on an error. Murphy later scored on a fielder's choice by junior designated hitter Brett Parola.

"We had a couple of base running mistakes and couldn't lay down some of our bunts," said Lake Forest skipper Ray Del Fava, whose club finished the season 20-14. "But I'm really proud of our guys. And give Mundelein credit. They executed when they had to and that makes all of the difference."

The Scouts score 2 runs in the second and 4 more in the third, and all of a sudden it was a 6-3 Lake Forest lead. The big hit in the fourth was a 2-run double to the left-center field wall by Durburg, who finished with 2 doubles.

Mundelein answered in the bottom of the fourth with another 3-spot to tie it at 6-6. Stricker smacked a 2-run single to center and later scored on a throwing error.

Junior pitcher Zach Zentz (5-1) picked up the win by tossing five innings in relief of starter junior Will Michalski.

"Will battled and Zach did a good job of throwing strikes," said Mustangs coach Todd Parola. "But this is what it's all about. Both teams played their guts out."