Lakes clinches NSC Prairie title
Lakes' Eagles soared to new heights Tuesday.
The baseball team clinched its first North Suburban Prairie Division championship thanks to a 12-4 win over visiting Antioch, as Kevin Kelly and Eric Lopez led the way offensively.
Kelly was 2-for-4 with 4 runs scored, while Lopez went 3-for-4 with a double and 2 RBI, giving Lakes (20-10, 10-2) a berth in Thursday's 4:30 p.m. North Suburban Conference title game at Lake Zurich.
Travis Vanderwall (5-4) pitched 4 innings for the victory.
For Antioch (11-17, 6-6), which upset Lakes on Monday, Dillon Healy was 2-for-4.
Vernon Hills 16, Grant 3: Freshman Chris Marras went 4-for-4 with 2 RBI, P.J. Marsek was 4-for-5 with 4 RBI and winning pitcher Scott Kempel contributed a 3-for-4 effort with 2 doubles and an RBI for the Cougars in the North Suburban Prairie finale.
Chris Argianis put the game out of reach with a 3-run homer, and Marsek finished the home team's scoring with a 3-run shot of his own in the sixth. Argianis and Nick Mazza (double) each had 2 hits for Vernon Hills.
Kempel went the distance on the mound, as the Cougars beat Grant ace Ryan Thorsen.
Warren 17, Mundelein 5: The Blue Devils got 17 hits, including 2 doubles from Scott Heelan and home runs from Chad Johnson and Tim Bodine, in the North Suburban Lake finale. Jon Frericks doubled and tripled for Warren.
Dillon Smith homered for Mundelein (21-8, 6-6).
Warren finished 5-7 in the division.
New Trier 9, Libertyville 6: A.J. Schurr homered and knocked in 2 runs for the Wildcats in their nonconference loss.
Also for Libertyville (19-9), Tyler Schweigert was 3-for-4 and Adam Quinn went 2-for-3.
Wauconda 8, Round Lake 3: The Bulldogs scored 6 runs in the top of the seventh inning, after the Panthers erased a 2-0 deficit by scoring three times in the sixth.
Bryce Lahrman had a double for Wauconda (14-12-1).
Mike Fuller belted a 2-run homer for Round Lake (3-21, 2-10) in the sixth to pull his team even. After Jeff Nicoline (2-for-3) reached, Adam Fernandez singled him home.
Matt Baum suffered the loss, pitching into the seventh.
Nick Jay pitched a complete game for Wauconda to earn the win.
Grayslake Central 9, Richmond-Burton 6: Josh DeAngelis, Kurt Schmidt and Jackson White each homered and doubled for the Rams in the nonconference game.
Kevin O'Rourke added a pair of singles for Grayslake Central (18-13).
On the mound, Nick Richter tossed 5 innings of relief to pick up the win. The junior righty allowed just 1 run to go along with 4 strikeouts.