Lake Zurich 5, Vernon Hills 2

It was do or die for Lake Zurich's baseball team Wednesday.

The Bears came through with a 5-2 victory over host Vernon Hills in a North Suburban Conference crossover.

Lake Zurich needed the victory in order to win a tie-breaker with Mundelein to see which team would represent the Lake Division in today's NSC championship game. Lake Zurich and Mundelein were co-winners of the NSC Lake.

Lake Zurich (24-6) will travel back to Vernon Hills today to take on NSC Prairie Division champ Vernon Hills (18-9) for the conference crown at 4:30 p.m.

Last season, the Cougars defeated Lake Zurich 1-0 for the championship.

"I think it's going to be a tight game," Vernon Hills coach Jay Czarnecki said. "I like our chances and I think we learned a lot (in Wednesday's) game. It will be up to our guys to make plays when they have a chance and it will be a fun atmosphere."

Both teams will send their aces to the mound -- Brad Schnitzer for the Cougars and Joey DeBernardis for the Bears.

"I have to hit my spots and we need to get a little more offense," Schnitzer said.

"We knew we had to win today in order to play tomorrow," DeBernardis said. "Hopefully, we'll come out on top. We know that they're a good team and that's what keeps me going."

As for Wednesday's crossover, Dan Zummo extended his record to 8-0 by pitching 4½ innings, allowing 2 runs (1 earned) on 6 hits.

Ricky Erickson pitched the final 2¿ innings, yielding only 1 hit to record his sixth save of the season.

"We had three nice outfield plays today," Bears coach Gary Simon said. "We hit the ball well and we did what we had to do."

Joey Nichols was the losing pitcher, allowing 4 runs, but none were earned.

He also singled in a run in the second inning.

Schnitzer had 3 hits, including a double, and an RBI.

DeBernardis went 3-for-3 with 2 doubles and 3 RBI. Austin Schmeisser was 4-for-4 and also came up with two key defensive plays in left field.

He made an over-the-shoulder catch in the top of the third and then he had a diving catch in the sixth.

After Vernon Hills took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second, Lake Zurich scored three in the third and never relinquished the lead.

Reid Bergstrom added a pair of hits for Lake Zurich, and second baseman Corey Halicke also turned in a defensive gem.

"We have our best going (today) and they have their best going," Simon said. "I think it's going to be a low-scoring game."