Baseball: Cote, Libertyville protect NSC lead
Ryan Cote pitched a complete-game shutout, allowing just 4 hits, and Libertyville's baseball team beat host Lake Zurich 6-0 in North Suburban Conference action Tuesday.
Libertyville remains (15-2) remains 2 games ahead of second-place Mundelein in the NSC with four conference games remaining for each team.
Cote struck out four and didn't walk a batter. Luke Plunkett, Tommy Rigali and Micah Holzworth all doubled for the Wildcats, and Jackson Petersen had a single and 2 RBI.
Lake Zurich dropped to 7-10 in the NSC.
Grayslake North 4, Round Lake 0: Nate Marshall (4⅓ innings), Kyle Hansen (1⅔ innings) and Eric Obenauf (1 inning) combined on a 1-hitter, and the Knights moved into a first-place tie in the Northern Lake County Conference with Grant, which lost to Wauconda.
Both Grayslake North and Grant are 9-4 in the NLCC.
Austin DeLao was 3-for-3 with 2 RBI for Grayslake North. DeLao, Chris Kelly, Declan Peterson and Danny Yates all doubled for the Knights.
Round Lake (0-13 NLCC) got its lone hit from Lucas Hollingsworth.
Grayslake Central 3, Lakes 3: The Northern Lake County game ended in a tie.
Nic Presutti was 3-for-4 for Grayslake Central (5-7-1 NLCC). Justin Shepley (2 RBI) and Coby Moe each had 2 hits for the Rams.
Mundelein 9, Lake Forest 5: Brendan Murphy was 4-for-4 with a triple, and Jeff Morton finished 3-for-4 with a double, as the Mustangs won in North Suburban action.
Ryan Magee went 2-for-2 for Mundelein (24-4, 13-4), and Zach Zentz earned the win.
Lake Forest fell to 7-10 in the NSC.
Warren 6, Zion-Benton 0: Jeff Stajduhar allowed 1 hit over 6 innings, striking out eight in the North Suburban game.
Tanner Dyer (2-for-3, double) and Lucas Schmitt (3-for-3, 2 RBI) led the way offensively for Warren (21-8, 12-5). Matt Temaner also doubled in the win.
Zion-Benton fell to 3-14 in the NSC.
Carmel 7, St. Patrick 0: Charley Dir earned the win, allowing just 3 hits over 6 innings, as the visiting Corsairs won the East Suburban Catholic Conference game.
Joey Lake, Ben Wiegman, Lukas Galdoni and Austin Ehren all doubled for Carmel (13-7, 8-4), and Drew Wiegman tripled. Lake, Tony Baumgart and Aiden Zawaski were all 2-for-3, and Drew Wiegman went 2-for-4.
Vernon Hills 14, Maine West 6: The host Cougars scored 7 runs in the first inning and never turned back in the Central Suburban League game.
Joe Rangel (2-for-3, 2 doubles, 2 runs, RBI) and Brennan Reback (1-for-1, 3 runs, RBI, 3 walks) led the way for Vernon Hills (14-12-1, 7-5), as they both got on base all 5 at-bats. Nick Marras, Ryan Larsen and Kyle Fasbinder each had 2 RBI in the win.