Baseball: Engelking, Crystal Lake South stop Mundelein

With a toss of his glove high into the night air, Crystal Lake South pitcher Andrew Engelking got a complete game victory on Monday night.

It was also his most important victory of the season.

Engelking led Crystal Lake South to a 6-2 victory over Mundelein in the Schaumburg Class 4A baseball supersectional at Boomers Stadium.

The Gators were down immediately (2-0) after the top of the first but fought right back to tie the game by the end of the first and then took firm control with an explosive 4-run fifth inning.

"We've been in situations before when we've been down and it's just chipping away," Crystal Lake South coach Brian Bogda said. "We knew it would be a battle. We just needed to put the ball in play and make them make plays. And that's what we did."

Crystal Lake South, which improves to 34-5, advances to the state finals at Silver Cross Stadium in Joliet and will face New Trier in the 3 p.m. semifinal on Friday.

Mundelein, which was the Class 4A state runner-up last season and was looking to finish the job this year, closes out the year with a 33-7 record.

The pivotal fifth inning for the Gators started with Griffin Bright reaching on an error and then Brian Fuentes driving him home with a double. Then Ryan Parquette scored on a passed ball. Another Mundelein error on a misread of a deep flyball brought in 2 more runs.

The Mustangs committed a total of 4 errors.

"One bad inning. Just some miscues," Mundelein right fielder Brett Parola said. "It definitely hurts because last year was one of the best experiences of my life and this year we didn't get it done.

"The sky was tough. We've never really played a night game so the ball was definitely tough to see. But things just weren't going our way."

They were at first.

Mundelein got off to a great start, jumping out to a quick 2-run lead in the top of the first in a game that started 43 minutes behind schedule. The Mustangs, hoping to get downstate for the second year in a row, were feeling pretty good about their chances against Crystal Lake South.

But Crystal Lake South quickly burst that bubble by scoring 2 runs of its own in the bottom of the first to tie the game.

Both teams were quiet for the next three innings until Crystal Lake South had that mid-game explosion.

"We didn't play good defense today, that's the bottom line," Mundelein coach Todd Parola said. "The better team won today. They out-played us. I thought (starting pitcher) Will (Michalski) gave us everything he had. But to have 4 errors that were costly . . . We didn't deserve to win."

Mundelein had gotten the scoring started in the first inning with 2 straight hits by leadoff hitter Nick Stricker and Jeff Morton. Steven Sanchez brought them in with a double.

But Crystal Lake matched in the bottom of the inning, beginning with three straight hits. Fuentes and Nick Wolski each drove in runs.

Engelking improved to 8-0, rolling up 7 strikeouts and allowing only 5 hits. He was one of the Gators' top two pitchers all season.

Mundelein was unable to use either of its top two pitchers (Brendan Murphy and Steven Sanchez) in the supersectional due to the IHSA pitch count rules. Sanchez was definitely out since he pitched the sectional championship on Saturday. But Murphy was also out since he pitched the sectional semifinal on Thursday.

Most other teams around the state played Wednesday semifinals and were able to bring back one of their top two pitchers for the supersectional, as Crystal Lake South did.

Engelking pitched the Gators' semifinal on Wednesday. Murphy would not have had the prescribed number of rest days after a Thursday start.

Murphy, a senior who has started on varsity since his sophomore year, could only contribute in his last game for Mundelein as a designated hitter. A prized big league prospect who has committed to Arizona State, he will now await his fate in the June 12 Major League Baseball draft.

"This senior group … it's going to be tough," Todd Parola said. "They've been great to be around. Obviously, last year we got on a run (to the state championship game) and this year we won another sectional. That's two sectionals back-to-back. I can't remember another team in our area that's done that, at least with the big schools. I don't think it's happened. So, after the pain subsides here with the way we played today, I think we'll look back and have some pretty good memories."