Risdon, Mundelein storm past Palatine

Lightning struck at least three times Wednesday afternoon at the Mundelein baseball field.

The first two strikes delayed the start of a Class 4A regional semifinal between Palatine and the host Mustangs for an entire hour.

The third was actually more of a figurative spark than a literal strike, and it came from Mundelein catcher Matt Risdon.

Shortly after the game was given clearance to proceed from game officials who were keeping a close eye on the skies, Risdon provided his own aerial jolt with a 3-run first-inning home run that gave Mundelein a lead it would never relinquish.

The fourth-seeded Mustangs went on to get a 5-2 victory that moves them to 24-10 on the season and into Saturday's 10 a.m. regional championship game against the winner of today's semifinal between No. 5 Hersey and No. 11 Highland Park.

No. 13 Palatine closes out its season at 20-15.

"I was trying to get a runner in with a deep fly ball and it just kept going into the street," Risdon said of his third homer of the year, which sailed over the left field fence and onto Midlothian Road. "Their pitcher (Byron Skinner) was throwing pretty hard. He had a nice slider. He just hung a curveball to me and I was actually waiting for that."

Risdon gave Mundelein a 3-1 lead by bringing in Charlie Gandolfi and Tyler Adams, who opened the bottom of the first with a walk and a single.

But after that, the Mustangs' offense was silenced for a while. Skinner gave up no runs and no hits for the next three innings.

Then again, Palatine, which got on the board in the top of the first on a Mundelein error, didn't score over that same period either. The Pirates left four baserunners stranded over a scoreless second, third and fourth inning. They left six more runners on base over the final three innings.

Palatine scored its only other run in the fifth on a double by Dan Haze (2-for-4) but also left two runners on in that inning as well.

"I think we out-hit them (9 to 6), but their hits were a lot more timely than ours," Palatine coach Paul Belo said. "We had some opportunities but their pitcher did a nice job of spotting balls."

Mundelein pitcher Ben Mahar went the distance and rolled up 5 strikeouts against just 3 walks.

He was comforted by his team's early lead as well as its addition of two insurance runs over the final two innings.

In the fifth inning, Adams drove in a run with a double and in the sixth, Colin Franklin did the same thing with a double of his own.

"This is a nice win. It feels real good," said Mahar, who is 5-5 on the mound this year. "When you go up early like we did, it makes me feel like I can challenge guys more. And my defense did a really good job behind me, too. That was key. We picked up the groundballs and we made the plays when we needed to. I was just trying to keep us in the game."

Besides giving up the home run, Skinner did the same for his team.

He went the distance and rolled up 9 strikeouts while allowing just 2 walks.

"It's always disappointing as a senior not being able to win your last game," Skinner said. "But I'm so proud of our team, how we still fought and fought after that big home run in the first inning."

In addition to Haze, Palatine also got multiple hits out of Kurt Becker (2-for-4), Mike Luschen (2-for-4) and Jim Smearman (2-for-3). Meanwhile, Adams was Mundelein's only multiple hitter (2-for-3).

"The home run was huge for us," Mundelein coach Todd Parola said. "We were fortunate that we got to (Skinner) early because I thought he was throwing harder as the game wore on. He really baffled us for four out of the six innings.

"But at this point, it's all about advancing and with the home run and the way Ben (Mahar) pitched, we were still able to do that."