Neuqua gets some relief; LZ heads home
As the players drifted between wanting to win the game and simply hoping to make it through the next inning, something ultimately had to give.
Finally, the grueling baseball marathon came to an end.
Andrew Skowronski's sacrifice fly in the top of the 11th inning held up as Neuqua Valley edged Lake Zurich 3-2 in the second round of play in the IHSBCA Phil Lawler Summer Classic on a hot and humid Tuesday at North Central College.
The Wildcats (31-3) - bolstered by 6 innings of scoreless relief from Mike Bogar and a one-two-three bottom of the 11th from Jason Avallone - advance to the state semifinals as the top seed from Pool B. They'll face Upstate Eight Conference rival Streamwood at 7:30 p.m. today at Lisle's Benedictine University with a berth in Thursday's title game hanging in the balance.
Lake Zurich (26-13) played St. Laurence immediately after the loss and had to win to advance into the semifinals. Exhausted from the first game, however, the Bears were eliminated with an 8-0 loss to the Vikings, who will play Nazareth in the first semifinal at 5 p.m. today.
"A lot of us were just trying to make it inning to inning," Bogar said. "We weren't even thinking of having another seven innings. This is huge to have a break."
Tied 1-1 at the end of seven innings, the score stayed right there until Chris Medhurst's 10th-inning sacrifice fly put the Wildcats ahead 2-1. Lake Zurich tied it in the bottom of the inning on Tanner Kiser's two-out RBI single.
After Skowronski's sacrifice fly gave Neuqua Valley its third lead, Avallone relieved Bogar and sent the Bears down in order to end the game. Bogar was tremendous in his 6 innings of relief for starter Alex Bucz, escaping a bases-loaded jam with no outs in the bottom of the ninth.
Timely hitting eluded both teams throughout the game, but Lake Zurich's golden opportunity in the ninth proved especially costly. Bogar coaxed a fielder's choice, a popout and a flyout to emerge unscathed.
Lake Zurich stranded 11 runners and had four others cut down on the basepaths. Neuqua Valley stranded nine runners.
After closing out Monday's win over St. Laurence, Bears starter Eddie Szarkowicz efficiently worked through 9 innings and allowed just 1 unearned run.
"Our pitching was good, and we had our opportunities," said Lake Zurich coach Gary Simon. "We didn't hit real well. You play 11 innings in this heat, and it's tough."
Neuqua Valley led 1-0 after a second-inning balk scored Ryan O'Keefe from third base. Mike Irgang singled home the tying run for Lake Zurich in the fourth inning.
"It was really fun despite the fact that it was really hot," Skowronski said. "We weren't very clutch at the beginning of the game, but it was very clutch what we did at the end of the game."
Wheaton legion: The senior and junior baseball teams from the Wheaton American Legion Post 76 in Carol Stream earned berths in the state championship tournament following victories in weekend qualifying games.
The senior team beat Libertyville 22-21 in 11 innings to advance as Wheaton North graduate Aric Dama singled home the game-winning run. Dama was also the winning pitcher after firing 5 innings of relief.
"I've never seen a game like this in my life," said Wheaton coach Jerry Miller. "Our guys battled in this game like they have all year."
After garnering the first state tournament berth in its 15-year history, Wheaton begins the eight-team, double-elimination event against Moline at 9 a.m. today in Crystal Lake. The junior legion team travels on Thursday to Champaign to begin its double-elimination state tournament.