Baseball: Lake Park holds off Geneva

Jay Palmer was cruising. Lake Park's senior right-hander had allowed just one Geneva hit through five innings while striking out 11 Vikings and the Lancers led 6-0.

Then, Geneva pushed back. The Vikings scored 4 times in the sixth inning and had the tying run at the plate. But Palmer got out of the inning without further damage, then struck out the side in the seventh to lead the Lancers to the 6-4 win Thursday and into the title game of the Class 4A Hoffman Estates baseball regional.

The Lancers will face St. Charles North at 11 a.m. Saturday for the title.

Lake Park slowly built the lead by scoring in the third, fourth, and fifth innings. Geneva almost got it all back in one inning.

Jackson Chase led off the sixth with a single to center. Ian Hanson rifled one to the left-center gap, and Nathan Dewey walked to load the bases. Palmer almost escaped the jam with back-to-back strikeouts. But then Josh Rose coaxed a walk, forcing in the Vikings' first run, and Tyler Venditti followed with a blast over the head of the center fielder, clearing the bases.

But Palmer retired pinch-hitter Garrett Bragg to end the inning, then pitched a perfect seventh. His 3 strikeouts in that inning gave him 16 for the game.

"I was set to pull him in the seventh, and he looked at me to say, 'I want to finish it,' " said Lake Park coach Dan Colucci. "I want to see him say give me the ball to finish it out.

Colucci went out to the mound during the sixth inning to try to settle down his all-conference pitcher.

"With the number 9 hitter, on 0-2, he missed a spot and he hit it," Colucci said. "In high school guys try to throw harder. I went out and my advice was to just try to locate better. No lead is safe in postseason baseball."

Geneva coach Brad Wendell was proud of his team's effort in coming back from a big deficit.

"We fought, so I can't be upset," he said. "I wish we would have been a little bit cleaner at times, but that's the way it goes.

"We got better and better (as the year went on.) We played some of our best baseball the last three weeks. The kids fought to the last out."

Lake Park moved ahead with 3 runs in the third. A sacrifice fly by Anthony DeConcilis, a single by Zach Aehlert, and a Geneva error accounted for the runs. The Lancers tacked on a run in the fourth. Jim Donofrio's squeeze bunt scored AJ Dallman, who had doubled into the gap leading off the inning.

Lake Park added what proved to be key insurance runs in the fifth with only 1 hit. A walk, an error, a hit batter, and a balk all contributed to the 2-run inning.