Lisle claims first conference title since 1977

Lisle's baseball team has been standing at the edge of history.

Friday at Benedictine University, the Lions happily jumped off the edge and into uncharted territory.

Behind Jon Surber's 2-hitter with 12 strikeouts and no walks, Lisle downed Herscher 8-1 to claim the outright Interstate Eight Conference North Division championship.

It's the Lions' first IEC title in their two decades of competing in the conference and their first conference title overall since 1977. Lisle (22-9, 12-4) also matched the program record for wins in a season.

"We were ready mentally for this game," said Lions first baseman Nick Thome, whose first-inning grand slam put the team ahead to stay. "We knew it was going to come down to this one."

The Clemson-bound Surber (6-1) got all the support he needed on Thome's towering homer that followed three walks. Scoring all its runs on three home runs - including 2-run shots by Jon Kolosky and Surber - Lisle left little doubt against South Division champion Herscher (22-9, 13-3).

"When Nick hit that one out in the first inning, you could tell it really took the wind out of their sails after that," Surber said. "We've been thinking about this game all week, and we were ready."

After Kolosky's 2-run homer put the Lions ahead 6-0 in the second inning, Herscher scored its lone run in the top of the fourth on a sacrifice fly by Tyler Evans.

Surber, who faced only 23 batters, gave himself a little extra padding by launching his 2-run home run in the sixth. He finished the game by striking out the side in the seventh, giving him 56 strikeouts in 38 innings and lowering his ERA to 1.29.

"There's not much to say about this one, he just dominated our hitters," said Herscher coach Eric Regez. "We had no chance. He was definitely on his 'A' game today."

Surber accounted for half of Lisle's 6 hits, coming a triple shy of hitting for the cycle.

Lisle now moves into playoff mode as the top seed in the Class 2A Aurora Christian regional. In Wednesday's semifinals the Lions face Monday's winner between Leo and Westmont.

"Having never been in this position before, everyone was just jacked up to be out here today," said Lions coach Pete Meyer. "You've got a guy like Jon on the mound, and he's such a competitor. It just rubs off on everyone."