Carmel wins ESCC; Lakes clinches tie for Prairie title
Carmel 12, St. Joseph 0: Carmel clinched the East Suburban Catholic Conference championship with the big victory.
Conner Fitzgerald blasted a grand slam home run in the seventh that put the icing on the cake for the Corsairs, who improve to 23-8 overall and 14-3 in the ESCC.
Alex May had a double and a triple and went 2-for-4 on the day while Derek Jordan and Nick Battalini each had doubles.
Pitcher Dan Mooney got the win on the mound. He recorded 5 strikeouts.
Stevenson 4, Warren 0: Stevenson got a leg up in the race for the North Suburban Conference Lake Division crown by taking down a Warren team that was keeping pace step for step.
Both Stevenson and Warren owned 8-2 Lake Division records heading into the game. Now, if the Patriots finish the job and sweep Warren today in the second game of the series, they'll walk away with the Lake Division title outright.
The Patriots got home runs out of Kyle Ruchim and Teddy Heiser. Ruchim also got the win on the mound.
Lake Zurich 7, Zion-Benton 3: Anthony Orlando smacked a bases-loaded double that helped Lake Zurich score 4 runs in the third inning. That broke up a scoreless tie and the Bears never looked back on their way to a North Suburban Lake Division win.
Orlando went 2-for-4 on the day and drove in 3 runs while Parker Asmann went a perfect 3-for-3.
Dan Johnsen got the win the on mound for Lake Zurich (17-14, 5-6 NSC Lake) and Mike Lutz got the save by pitching the final 2 2/3 innings.
Libertyville 12, Lake Forest 10: A five-run sixth inning keyed a come-from-behind victory for Libertyville, which was down 10-7 heading into the inning.
Brandon Fowkes led the way with a grand slam home run in the sixth.
The Wildcats (19-9) also got two other big home runs in the game. Nate Clark had a 3-run homer in the third and AJ Schurr had a two-run homer in the fourth.
Clark had 2 hits on the day, as did Brad Martin. One of Martin's hits was a double.
Tyler Schweigert had 2 doubles and went 3-for-4 overall.
Lakes 12, Round Lake 2: Lakes clinched at least a tie for first place in the North Suburban Prairie Division.
Vernon Hills is 9-3 and done with division play and every other team in the division has at least four losses.
Lakes pitcher Chris Hoffman kept Round Lake in check, allowing just 5 hits without a walk in six innings. He also had 7 strikeouts.
Meanwhile, Nick Traska and Wills Massie were both a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate for the Eagles while teammate Travis Vanderwall went 3-for-4.
Antioch 16, North Chicago 1: Kris Nordby got his second win on the mound for the Sequoits, pitching all five innings and allowing just 2 hits and no walks. He also recorded 7 strikeouts.
Antioch moves to 14-14 overall and 6-4 in the North Suburban Prairie Division.
Grayslake Central 11, Prairie Ridge 9: In a battle for first place in the Fox Valley Conference Fox Division, Grayslake Central got the upper hand.
The Rams (24-7, 17-5 FVC Fox) worked hard for it, though. They fell behind 5-0 after Prairie Ridge put up four runs in the top of the second.
But Grayslake Central responded with 7 runs in the bottom of the inning, thanks to key hits by Austin Miller and Mike Gentile.
After Prairie Ridge regained the lead with a two-run fifth inning that made the score 8-7, the Rams responded again, this time scoring 4 runs in the bottom half of the inning.
Matt Murphy and Josh DeAngelis both had RBI-singles in the fifth for the Rams, who also benefited from 3 walks and 2 Prairie Ridge errors.
Junior lefty Mark Gawinski earned his first varsity win for Grayslake Central, which has just two division games remaining, and both are against crosstown rival Grayslake North.
If the Rams win both games, they would clinch at least a co-championship. It would be the program's second in four years.
"We control our destiny and that's the position you want to be in," Grayslake Central coach Troy Whalen said. "Both games will be tough. (Grayslake North) is playing their best baseball of the season right now."