Baseball: Wheaton North's Mueller takes one for the team
The end of the baseball game hurt Lake Park far worse than it did Erik Mueller.
Wheaton North's third baseman was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning to give the Falcons a 5-4 walk-off victory in Friday's DuPage Valley Conference matchup at Pfund Stadium in Carol Stream.
Trailing 4-1 in the seventh inning, Wheaton North (10-9, 8-4) rallied to tie it. After Lake Park (8-10, 4-8) reliever Anthony Baturin retired the first two eighth-inning batters on groundouts, the Falcons put three runners on base - aided by an error - leading up to Mueller's plunking.
"We've been down before so we're not unfamiliar with that situation," said Falcons second baseman Connor Olson, who had 3 hits and scored twice. "Our coaches preach that the game's not over until it's over, and that's something that drives us and keeps us going."
All 4 runs off Wheaton North starter Jon Vesevick were unearned due to 4 errors by the Falcons. Jackson Gray's RBI triple in the bottom of the third inning tied the game at 1-1 before Rory Marino put the Lancers ahead 3-1 with a fifth-inning 2-run single.
Lake Park's lead grew to 4-1 in the sixth, but Wheaton North rallied again in the seventh. Two errors by Lake Park opened the door, and Gray's sacrifice fly tied it.
"We've lost a bunch of games where we were up late in the game, and we need to more mentally tough than what we've shown," said Lancers coach Dan Colucci. "We need to be able to close out games. We need some leaders to step up."
Zach Aehlert had 2 of Lake Park's 3 hits while Chris Donahue had 2 hits for Wheaton North.
Kielor Roberts pitched a 1-2-3 eighth inning to win in relief of Vesevick. Lancers starter Jay Palmer scattered 8 hits in 6 innings.
"Sometimes you'll have those games where you don't play well behind your starter but (Vesevick) kept us right there," said Wheaton North coach Dan Schoessling. "That was huge, and it gave us a chance late in the game."
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