Baseball: Lake Park's rally stuns St. Charles North
Lake Park rallied for the tying and winning runs in the sixth inning while hitting only two balls out of the infield.
If the inning was not an artistic success, the Lancers don't care. Those runs allowed them to upset top-seeded St. Charles North, 3-2, to capture the Class 4A Hoffman Estates baseball regional title Saturday.
Zach Aehlert's sacrifice fly and John DeConcilis's infield hit drove in the 2 runs. Aehlert's first-inning home run to right field accounted for the Lancers' other run.
Lake Park faces Marmion Academy in the Bartlett sectional on Wednesday.
Ryan Behling went the distance on the mound for Lake Park (21-14), allowing 6 hits and striking out 3.
"We made a bunch of errors today but we played above them," said Lake Park coach Dan Colucci. "We bent but didn't break. The big inning was when they had bases loaded, nobody out, and we gave up only one run. That could have been an inning where it just blew up on us. I have to give Ryan credit, he made the pitches when he needed to make the pitches. We gutted it out and did what we needed to do to put some runs on the board."
Behling worked out of jams in the first three innings as the North Stars (27-7) failed to capitalize on their early scoring chances. A pivotal moment in the game came when the North Stars loaded the bases with no outs in the third but scored only 1 run.
"I was struggling with my command in that inning, "Behling said. "I put my trust in my defense. They helped me out big-time, and I couldn't be more thankful. They're the reason why I won this game."
First-baseman Paul Beverly stabbed a sharp one-hopper and got the force at the plate for the first out. Rory Marino made a nice play on a grounder and made the throw to Beverly. Although a run scored on the play, the Lancers gained the crucial second out. After a walk reloaded the bases, Beverly made an unassisted putout for the final out of the inning.
The North Stars took the lead an inning later when Tommy Nelsen singled. He was sacrificed to second and wound up scoring from there on a fly ball, hustling home when the throw to third was offline.
"You get the bases loaded with nobody out and your 4, 5, and 6 (hitters) coming up, you think you're going to get at least one, if not more," said St. Charles coach Todd Genke. "Unfortunately, we didn't, and I thought that was a little bit demoralizing for us. The bottom line is, the kids fought. It was a very good baseball game, but they basically made one more play than we did."
The Lancers' winning rally started on a bizarre play. Anthony DeConcilis drove one into the ground just in front of home plate. It bounced high in the air and DeConcilis raced to first while catcher Sean Nemetz waited for the ball to return to earth. The North Stars argued that the ball hit DeConcilis in the batters box, but the call stood.
Marino followed with a sharp one-hopper that handcuffed the first baseman and both runners were safe. Aehlert's sac fly brought in De Concilis with the tying run. Beverly's grounder through the hole was the second ball to reach the outfield. After an infield out and an intentional walk, John DeConcilis hit one to the third baseman who hesitated, allowing pinch runner Jared Nickel to score.
Pat Bellock led off the seventh with a single for St. Charles North. But the Lake Park defense came through again as shortstop Anthony DeConcilis started a 6-4-3 double play to erase the threat.
Anthony DeConcilis and AJ Dallman had 2 hits apiece for Lake Park.
Pat Bellock had 2 hits and reached base 3 times for St. Charles North.