Stevenson in celebratory mood after dropping Lake Zurich 3-2

A dozen Stevenson baseball players laughed it up and mugged for group pictures on their home diamond following Monday's 3-2 win over Lake Zurich.

The fact it was a Senior Day in Lincolnshire provided the explanation.

If they make it back-to-back victories over the Bears on Tuesday, expect every Patriot to be in a celebratory mood again.

The North Suburban Lake Division champion will be determined at Lake Zurich, with the winner hosting Thursday's conference title game.

Stevenson (25-5, 8-3) will throw Ohio-bound lefty Matt Robin, while defending NSC champ Lake Zurich (20-9-1, 8-3) will counter with 7-0 right-hander Chas Evans.

"I really feel like the momentum is on our side," winning pitcher Scott Firth said after throwing a complete-game 5-hitter with 10 strikeouts.

Stevenson coach Paul Mazzuca wouldn't go that far.

"Going to that place, it's never easy to win," Mazzuca said. "Hopefully Matt just competes and gives us an opportunity. I'm sure it's going to be a good ballgame."

Monday's game was essentially a pitchers duel, even though both starters struggled with their control. Firth (5-1) walked five and hit a batter.

"I really worked on throwing my off-speed pitches today," Firth said. "My changeup felt good, and the defense was playing good behind me. So I was really just worried about throwing strikes and kind of just pushing through it a little bit."

Bears left-hander Ricky Erickson (2-2) fanned eight but yielded 7 walks in his 6 innings. He allowed just 5 hits, while throwing - by Lake Zurich's count - about 130 pitches.

"Ricky was really courageous," Lake Zurich coach Gary Simon said. "In the last inning (the sixth), he was throwing harder than he was in the first inning."

The difference in the game was 4 Lake Zurich errors, including a critical one with two out in the Stevenson third that led to 3 unearned runs. Erickson should have been out of the inning unscathed when he induced Patrick Wilson to hit a groundball, but an error plated the game's first run and kept the inning alive.

Erick King then doubled into the right-center field gap, scoring a pair and making it 3-0.

"It was a curveball," King said. "I'm really good at hitting curveballs so I waited back and hit it as hard as I could."

Lake Zurich responded with a pair of runs in the fourth, with Parker Asmann coaxing a two-out walk to pull the Bears within 3-2.

But Firth got a strikeout to leave the bases loaded.

In the fifth, he issued a leadoff walk to Evans. Tanner Witt then bunted down the first-base line. The ball rolled foul, but skewed back into fair territory. Firth couldn't make the play and Witt reached safely with a hit.

"I kind of put that play on myself a little bit," Firth said. "I knew I should have probably normally fielded that and knocked it foul. I really had to buckle down. It was one of those situations where you kind of reach back for a little bit more."

The Clemson recruit did. With two on and none out, he got 2 strikeouts and then a comebacker to end the inning.

"He beared down," Mazzuca said. "He kind of showed why he's going to pitch at the next level."

"Well, we outhit them (5-3)," Simon said. "But you can't (win) with 4 errors."

Now it's on to Tuesday's showdown.

"We need to come out like we did today," said King, who had the game's only extra-base hit. "We need to take care of business, like we know we can."