Lake Zurich on target in 8-1 NSC title win over Lakes

There were no bullseyes made at the Lake Zurich baseball field on Thursday.

But the Bears did do their best to answer the call of one shirtless superfan who spent much of his afternoon hanging out beyond the fence in centerfield as his team took on Lakes for the North Suburban Conference title.

Superfan wanted home runs, so whenever Lake Zurich came to bat, he held a homemade sign above his head that would have made the folks at one particular big box store proud.

The sign featured a giant red bullseye that looked just like the Target logo.

"I saw that kid out there," said Lake Zurich left fielder Ricky Erickson. "Usually he goes to only the sophomore games, I think because he's a sophomore. This was the first time he came to our game and brought the sign.

"I was (aiming for it)."

Erickson didn't quite get an 'A' for accuracy, but he was spot-on with everything else Superfan wanted.

So were a couple of Erickson's teammates.

The Bears blasted a record-setting 4 home runs - 2 of which came from Erickson - in rolling past Lakes 8-1 to win their second consecutive league championship.

"The four home runs were great," said Erickson, who hit 2 home runs in a game for the first time in his career. He now has 3 on the season. "We knew we were going to come out here and take care of business."

Sophomore Parker Asmann got the home run derby started when he crushed a ball over the right field fence in the second inning. Erickson hit his first homer in the third inning to give Lake Zurich a 6-0 lead, and then pitcher Tanner Witt and Erickson put up back-to-back home runs in the fifth inning to drive even more nails in the coffin.

"Four (home runs) in a game...I know we've had three in a game before, but four?" said Witt, sounding amazed himself. "Ricky (Erickson) had an awesome game. He helped us out big-time today.

"And when me and Ricky when back-to-back, the Lakes pitcher (Tim Ryan) kind of put his head down a little bit and that's when we knew we had won the game."

Lake Zurich, which edged Stevenson on Tuesday to earn the Lake Division title and a spot in the conference title game, moves to 22-9-1 on the season. The Bears won their very first conference title last season by defeating Vernon Hills in the NSC championship game.

Meanwhile, Prairie Division champion Lakes, which was playing in its first NSC title game, drops to 20-11 overall. Prior to this season, the Eagles had never placed higher than third in the Prairie.

But even being reminded of that notable achievement couldn't cheer up Tim Ryan. The Lakes pitcher took the loss hard.

"Too many fastballs down the middle," said Ryan, explaining his troubles on the mound, where his pitching record dropped to 6-2 on the season. "This is the worst game of my life."

But Lakes coach Bill Rosencrans had a totally different take. He says Lake Zurich simply hit the ball extraordinarily well. And in its relatively small park, that would spell trouble for any opponent.

"Give (Lake Zurich) credit. They really hit it," Rosencrans said. "I thought Tim (Ryan) did well. In 99 percent of baseball parks, those aren't home runs, those are fly balls, except maybe one of them.

"Tim did a good job, he stuck to it and I'm proud of him. He's been our guy all year. He didn't throw bad at all."

Neither did Witt. In fact, Witt was rock solid on the mound as Ryan's counterpart.

When he wasn't busy adding to his home run total, Witt was frustrating Lakes batters left and right. He gave up only 1 hit through the first four innings and 5 hits overall in six innings of work. Witt also rolled up 8 strikeouts.

"He has some wicked stuff," Lake Zurich coach Gary Simon said of Witt, who moves to 5-3 on the mound. "He's got like four or five pitches - a curve, slider, fastball, cut fastball and a split finger."

Dominic Costa was the only Lakes batter to get extra bases on Witt. He crushed a double in the fifth inning that also happened to be the Eagles' first hit.

Ryan Noon then singled on the very next at-bat to drive in Costa.

"(Witt) was pitching well. He was tough," Noon said. "It's tough when they're putting runs on the board and you want to do the same, but you just don't."