Lake Park 13, Waubonsie Valley 6
As hard as Lake Park hit the ball Tuesday, someone still had to take the mound and shut down Waubonsie Valley's offense.
The Lancers turned to Ryan Wegner.
The senior right-hander came in from center field and pitched 4 scoreless innings of relief as Lake Park surged to a 13-6 baseball victory over the Warriors in Aurora.
The Lancers (10-4, 6-2) capped a two-game sweep of the Upstate Eight Conference series and extended their winning streak to six straight overall.
"The whole key to my game is just to throw strikes," said Wegner, who notched the save for winning pitcher Mike Kotas (2-0) after he threw 1½ innings of relief for starter Brian Konecke.
"It was back and forth and I was kind of nervous at first to get on the mound, but then you get in a groove and it comes easier," Wegner said.
After Lake Park opened the scoring with 4 runs in the top of the second inning, the Warriors (6-9, 5-4) responded with 6 runs in the bottom of the second. Lake Park tied the game with a 2-run third and seized command by scoring 5 runs in the fourth.
Two fourth-inning errors allowed the Lancers to pour on the offense with 4 hits. A key 2-run double came from Mario Fearon. Brian Serrano laced an RBI single.
Lake Park had 16 hits on the day, including 3 hits by Wegner and Serrano. Wegner, Fearon, Serrano and Peter Spear drove in 2 runs.
The Warriors, meanwhile, couldn't manage another run after the 6-run second. Wegner's 1-2-3 fourth inning put a definite halt to their momentum at the plate.
"Fundamentally, we broke down as hitters," said Warriors coach Dan Fezzuoglio. "We didn't make adjustments in the box, unlike them. It's one of those things where things aren't going our way."
Trevor Romeo and Chris Galovic had back-to-back 2-run singles for the Warriors in the second inning. Dan Walker walked with the bases loaded and Johnny Strauss added a sacrifice fly.
Spears' 2-run single put the Lancers ahead 2-0 in the top of the inning. Wegner and Matt Kennedy had RBI hits to extend the lead to 4-0. Three third-inning doubles by Fearon, Mike Ostrowski and Serrano tied the game 6-6.
Lake Park scored its 12th run in the sixth inning on a wild pitch. Wegner's RBI single in the seventh accounted for the final score.
"We needed Ryan to do the work, and then the bats just took over," said Lancers coach Dan Colucci. "The bats have been bailing us out all season, and we hope it continues."