Baseball: Crystal Lake South confident heading into semifinal
The Crystal Lake South baseball team spent the week preparing for the Class 4A finals in warm weather under sunny skies, but much of the prep work had already been done on cold, gray days in April and May.
That was when the Gators were fighting their way through the challenging Fox Valley Conference schedule.
Long considered an above-average public-school league in terms of baseball talent, the FVC was never tougher than it was this season. The nine-team conference was rife with Division-I talent, including McHenry pitchers Bobby Miller (Louisville) and Mike Lasiewicz (NIU), Cary-Grove pitchers Matt McCumber (NIU) and Quinn Priester (Texas Christian) and Dundee-Crown's Erik Hedmark (NIU).
Crystal Lake South (34-5) went 3-2 in games started by that talented fivesome, giving the Gators confidence they can compete against any of the talented arms they might face this weekend at Joliet Slammers Stadium.
"We're at the point in the season where we're going to see the best of the best and we feel like our conference season has really prepared us for this," said 10th-year Crystal Lake South coach Brian Bogda (225-109). "We've seen some really, really good pitching throughout."
Thanks to a lineup batting a combined .342 and the dependable starting pitching of senior Andrew Engelking and Kyle Lang, the Gators make their first trip to the state finals since a Class AA appearance in 1993.
Crystal Lake South faces New Trier (30-4) in a semifinal today at 3 p.m. Edwardsville (33-7) plays St. Laurence (35-5) in the second semifinal at 5 p.m.
The winners play for the Class 4A state championship on Saturday at 5 p.m.
Lang is the likely candidate to pitch against New Trier since Engelking threw 85 pitches on Monday in a 6-2 complete-game victory over Mundelein at Schaumburg Boomers Stadium.
Lang (9-0) enters with a 1.18 ERA, 51 strikeouts and 18 walks in 65⅓ innings over 15 appearances. Engelking (8-0) boasts a 1.84 ERA with 54 strikeouts and 18 walks in 68⅓ innings.
Though they don't require much run support, Lang and Engelking usually get it anyway from a lineup that attacks relentlessly. A driving force behind the CL South offense is Brian Fuentes. The senior is batting .448 (52-for-116) with 20 doubles, 6 home runs and 48 RBI.
Fuentes is not a one-man show. Leadoff man Griffin Bright's surge since midseason raised his batting average to .348. Senior outfielder Brent Chubb (.357) has 26 RBI, senior catcher Ryan Parquette is batting .438 with 35 RBI, senior first baseman Nick Wolski (.343) has 12 doubles, 3 home runs and 30 RBI and junior Noah Tyrrell is batting .351 with 8 doubles and 16 RBI.
"We'll keep doing what we've been doing, which is to put pressure on teams' defenses, try to do some things on the bases," Bogda said. "I know they have a real good catcher so we may have to do a little more hit and run or things like that."
New Trier counters with Northwestern-bound junior switch hitter Anthony Calarco, a .378 hitter with 13 doubles and 29 RBI, senior Kevin Donahue (.429, 15 doubles, 21 RBI), senior catcher Dylan Horvitz (.326, 31 RBI) and junior Cam Redding (.402, 10 doubles, 25 RBI.)