Sweet victory for Grayslake North over Round Lake

Monday afternoon's nonconference baseball game between Round Lake and the host Knights started off pretty close.

The Knights fell behind 1-0 before responding with 3 runs in the bottom of the first for an early 3-1 lead.

But Grayslake North's offense exploded for 7 runs on 5 hits in the bottom of the third en route to impressive 13-2 victory in 5 innings.

The Knights (1-16) got their first victory of the season after playing a tough schedule up to this point, while the Panthers remained winless at 0-10.

An RBI single by Round Lake starting pitcher Anthony Gutierrez drove in teammate Dillon Havrilak for an early 1-0 lead. But Grayslake North winning pitcher Ed Tatera was strong overall in firing a 3-hitter.

Two-out runs were the norm for the Knights on this day as Grayslake North's Brandon Fern (3-for-3) was hit by a pitch to start a rally in the bottom of the first.

Fern scored on an RBI double by Matt Robinson before Tatera's RBI double scored Robinson for a 2-1 lead. Then John Romanski reached base on the first of 4 errors by Round Lake and the Knights held a 3-1 lead.

"We took a step back today, but our last four games we were starting to play a little better," said Round Lake coach Ed Adamson. "We've just got to do a better job of eliminating the mistakes and we gave them some extra outs today."

Fern's lead-off single started Grayslake North's huge 7-run third inning before a single by Robinson and a 4-pitch walk to Ed Tatera loaded the bases.

Romanski followed with an RBI before Sean Brennan's 2-run single to left field made the score 7-1. Tom Elias' RBI single to center made the score 8-1 before a sacrifice fly by Kevin Staszczak accounted for the second out.

Andy Tatera reached base on an error before scoring on an RBI triple by Fern for a commanding 10-1 cushion.

"I felt like the bats woke up today and our defense picked up the ball behind me," said Ed Tatera. "It's nice to see all those runs because then all I have to do is throw strikes and I thought the defense played great today."

The Knights added 3 runs with two outs in the bottom of the fourth as No. 9-hitter Joe Walsh, Staszczak, and Fern all had RBI singles.

"It feels good to get the first win of the year and the kids have kept a positive attitude through a tough stretch," said Grayslake North coach Andy Strahan, whose team had 12 hits. "It's nice to score a lot of runs with two outs, and you are going to be in a lot of ballgames when you score runs with two outs."