No joke: 'Class clown' Miller, Bears take title

Apparently, it wasn't out of character for Mike Miller to go for a laugh.

On Tuesday, as his teammates lined up dutifully for a group photo, he somehow ended up sitting solo up front, facing the camera sideways with one leg stretched out in front of him and the other tucked up close to his chest.

Think cute cheerleader pose.

For good measure, Miller held a long-stemmed carnation between his teeth as if he were a Tango dancer.

It was Senior Day at the Lake Zurich baseball field and the carnations had been given to all the mothers of seniors.

"He's kind of like that," Lake Zurich baseball coach Gary Simon said of Miller with a laugh. "Mike is kind of like our class clown."

Every team has at least one. After all, comic relief is often needed in sports.

But on this particular afternoon, with a North Suburban Conference Lake Division title on the line, the class clown also wound up being the prized student.

Miller went a perfect 3-for-3, which included the home run he crushed in his final at-bat, to help Lake Zurich get an 8-6 victory over visiting Stevenson.

That gives the Bears (21-9-1, 9-3 Lake) their third consecutive Lake Division championship. They'll go for their second straight overall North Suburban Conference title on Thursday (4:30 p.m.) when they host Prairie Division winner Lakes.

And speaking of streaks, Miller ended one that desperately needed to be shown the door.

He entered the game in a major slump, laying a big goose egg over his previous 15 at-bats. That's 0-for-15.

"I really was 0-for-15," Miller said with a shake of his head. "That felt good to finally hit the ball."

Miller, who ended the game by catching a Stevenson fly ball in center field, wasn't the only Bear who got some redemption.

Pitcher Parker Asmann was looking to change his luck, too.

He had had some trouble on Monday when Lake Zurich faced Stevenson in Lincolnshire in the first game of the teams' crucial doubleheader.

He made an error that helped Stevenson take control. And the Patriots wound up winning the game.

That set the stage for Tuesday's game. The winner would take all; or at least the Lake Division title anyway.

Asmann rebounded nicely, even with so much at stake.

He got the win on the mound, taking over for starter Chas. Evans and finishing the last three innings strong. Asmann gave up only 3 hits, and no runs.

What a difference a day makes.

"I'm just really excited for everyone," Asmann said. "I had that key error yesterday and I was glad to come back today and get a win. I was really nervous out there.

"I was just trying to get (Stevenson) to hit the ball because I knew my defense could make plays."

Meanwhile, the Bears made plenty of key plays on offense, highlighted not only by Miller's home run, but by a first-inning dinger by Logan Matthews and doubles by Matthews, Tanner Witt and Kyle Sanders.

"Bottom line is that we pitched behind the count the whole game and against a team like this, in a small ballpark like this when it's windy, and you let them just sit on fastballs, it makes it awfully tough," Stevenson coach Paul Mazzuca said. "We just could not get ahead of their hitters and they made us pay."

Then again, that worked both ways for much of the game.

Stevenson hit the ball well, too, pounding out a total of 12 hits. The Patriots got a home run from Kyle Ruchim and 2 doubles from Pat Wilson, who went a career-best 4-for-4 on the day. Erick King also had a double.

Stevenson (25-6, 8-4 Lake) got out to an early 2-0 lead and held a 6-5 lead after three innings.

"It was a good win (Monday) and you thought that the momentum was carrying over into today," Wilson said. "But it just turned somewhere. I don't know where. The ball just didn't bounce our way."