Eagles' sweep secures first winning season
Lakes' baseball team needed a sweep of its nonconference doubleheader against Richmond-Burton on Saturday to guarantee itself of its first winning season in its three years as a varsity program.
Done.
The Eagles won 9-4 and 13-6 in Lake Villa.
Brian Baiocchi pitched 4½ innings to get the victory in Game 2 and improve to 3-3. Travis VanderWall went 3-for-4 with 2 RBI, and Dominic Costa was 2-for-4 with a triple and 2 RBI to pace the offense.
Kyle Frye -- who was a doubles machine in the opener -- doubled again for Lakes (16-13). The Eagles open the Class 3A state playoffs Thursday against Grayslake North in a semifinal of the Grayslake North regional.
In Game 1, Lakes' Tim Ryan (4-4) scattered 9 hits over 6 innings, striking out three.
Frye was 3-for-4 with 3 doubles and an RBI. Aaron Piekarz went 3-for-3 with 2 doubles and 2 RBI, and VanderWall was 2-for-4 with a home run, double and 2 RBI.
Libertyville 10, Palatine 1: Jeff Jenkins scattered 8 hits over 7 innings, striking out three and walking one in the nonconference game.
Joey Aiello was 2-for-2 with 2 walks, a double, 4 RBI and 2 runs scored to pace the offense for Libertyville (23-11). Tom Jacobson homered and doubled, and scored twice, for the Wildcats. Jeremy Butler also had 2 hits, and Mason Reiff contributed a double and 2 runs scored.
The Wildcats visit Nazareth on Monday for a nonconference game, before opening the Class AA state tournament on Thursday at Warren against the host Blue Devils in the Warren regional.
Maine W. 5, Lake Zurich 4: The host Warriors scored 5 unearned runs in the fifth inning to erase a 3-0 deficit and earn the nonconference win.
Lake Zurich pitchers Ryan Morrill and Rick Erickson (2-2) were the victims in the Maine West fifth.
"We had a series of mental and physical mistakes that snowballed into a big inning for West," said coach Gary Simon, whose Bears were playing their first game since winning the North Suburban Conference championship two days earlier.
"Hopefully we got them all out of our system and come back refocused (this) week."
Reid Bergstrom (double, RBI) and Joey DeBernardis (2 walks) both had 2 hits for Lake Zurich (25-7). Dan Zummo also doubled.
The Bears play Shepard on Monday and open the Class AA Barrington regional on Wednesday against Buffalo Grove.
Antioch 12, Marengo 2: Freshman Tom Sears went the distance on the mound, striking out 11, walking three and scattering 4 hits in improving to 2-0.
Dillon Healy was 4-for-4 for host Antioch (16-12) and Austin Grimm went 3-for-4 with a double and 2 RBI.
Softball
Warren sweeps: At Prairie Ridge, the Blue Devils picked up a pair of wins, defeating Niles West 7-4 and Prairie Ridge 2-1 in eight innings.
In its first game, Warren trailed 4-2 after six innings. Stephanie Youngman led off the Blue Devils' seventh with a double and Kellie Kraft followed with a single. An error on the play scored Youngman.
Alex Booker then singled as well, before Jenna Anderson hit a ball into the gap for a 2-run single.
After a fielder's choice. Kayla Hurd capped the 5-run inning by hitting a 2-run home run -- the first over-the-fence homer for the Blue Devils this season.
Both Hurd and Booker finished 3-for-4. Hurd also pitched 7 innings for the win, striking out nine and allowing only 1 earned run.
With Game 2 tied 1-1 after seven innings, Warren and Prairie Ridge went to an international tiebreaker. The Blue Devils started the eighth with a runner (Julie Evans) on second base.
Kathleen Trychta bunted Evans to third, and then Booker singled her in. Booker finished 4-for-4.
Sarah Clauser's RBI single in the fourth accounted for Warren's first run.
Sam Berrios was the winning pitcher.