Baseball: Lake Park headed to sectional final
Lake Park leadoff hitter Anthony DeConcilis set the tone for Thursday's 6-2 win over Marmion on the first strike he saw.
The senior was facing Marmion ace Brandon McPherson, a 6-foot-3, 230-pound right-hander who entered the Class 4A Bartlett sectional semifinal with a 0.97 earned-run average, 97 strikeouts and 13 walks in 57⅔ innings.
DeConcilis was not intimidated.
He got ahead in the count 2-0 and looked for an off-speed pitch as instructed by the team scouting report on McPherson. The right-handed hitter jumped on a meaty slider and deposited it 20 feet beyond the left-center field fence.
"He likes to throw that slider a lot when he's down in the count," said DeConcilis, who went 3-for-4 with a double and scored 3 runs. "I took advantage of that and recognized it."
Lake Park catcher Zach Aehlert went deep to right field one batter later to stake the Lancers to a 2-0 lead. The opposite-field home run, Aehlert's 11th, set a new Lake Park single-season record.
"Coming out against a pitcher like McPherson and getting 2 runs in the first inning was huge for us," Lancers coach Dan Colucci said.
Aehlert drove in another run on a third-inning single to increase his RBI total to 45, also a school single-season record.
No. 8 Lake Park (22-14) added 2 fifth-inning runs on Paul Beverly's bases-loaded, two-out single to take a 5-1 lead. The Lancers scored a sixth run on AJ Dallmann's windblown, solo home run to left in the sixth.
It was more run support than Elmhurst College-bound Jay Taylor needed. The senior right-hander held the Cadets to 2 earned runs on solo homers by Jake Carlson and Chase Stanke. He allowed 6 hits and issued 2 walks in 6 innings and struck out 10.
"Lately, I've been throwing a lot harder," said Palmer (8-3). "My slider has been on. My changeup has been OK. All of my pitches are working and I'm just finding out how to get batters out as I go through the game."
The victory advances Lake Park to a baseball sectional final for the first time since 2001. The Lancers will attempt to win the first baseball sectional title in school history on Saturday at 11 a.m. against No. 6 Willowbrook (20-14), which defeated Glenbard East 6-5 in the second semifinal at Bartlett.
"Hopefully, we'll make some history on Saturday," Colucci said.
McPherson (5-2) pitched all 6 innings for No. 13 Marmion (16-19) but was not his sharpest. He was charged with 4 earned runs, half as many as he had allowed all season. Lake Park hit 3 home runs against McPherson, who had given up 4 coming into the game. He allowed 7 hits, issued 4 walks and struck out 6.
"Before the game I told my coach my arm was a little sore, but I don't like making excuses for the outcome of the game," McPherson said. "That's a good-hitting team. They got a little help from the wind and the calls, but that's baseball at the end of the day. Stuff doesn't go your way."
A baserunning blunder cost the Cadets an opportunity to get back in the game in the fifth inning. Trailing 3-1 with two runners in scoring position, Palmer whirled and picked off the runner at second base to quash the threat.
"We knew that they like to pick at second no matter what the situations is and where runners are at," Marmion coach Frank Chapman said. "I just think we might have got caught napping a little bit there."
Overall, it was a positive season for Marmion. The Cadets achieved their goal of being competitive in the Chicago Catholic League with a 7-7 conference record.
Marmion also garnered the program's first Class 4A regional title one year removed from a third-place finish in Class 3A.
However, they left six runners on base against Palmer.
"We got some guys on and just couldn't get the big hit when we needed to," said Stanke, who went 1-for-3. "It just wasn't our day. I mean, they came out from the start and they were putting balls in play. It was a good day to hit with the wind blowing out. We just couldn't do the same thing."