Baseball / Lake County roundup
Mundelein’s baseball team played long ball Saturday.
Chris Maranto, Nik Gastfield and Bill McMahon all homered, as the Mustangs defeated visiting Prairie Ridge 11-1 in five innings to improve to 15-0 heading into Tuesday’s North Suburban Lake Division showdown against Stevenson at Mundelein.
Maranto, Gastfield, Austin Ozog and Luis Carrasco each had 2 hits. Gastfield, Carrasco and Jordan Wiegold all doubled, while Maranto added a triple.
Lefty Dante Martinez pitched 4 innings for the win, allowing 4 hits and striking out two.
Stevenson 16, Rolling Meadows 10: Brandon Waters homered, tripled and went 3-for-4 with 3 RBI and 3 runs scored, and the Patriots scored 11 runs in the fourth inning to capture the nonconference game.
Max Golembo was 3-for-3 with 4 RBI for Stevenson (11-2). The Patriots got doubles from Golembo, Adam Walton and Jacob Sholl. Zachary Gordon earned the win.
Vernon Hills 5, CL Central 4: Chris Marras belted a grand slam, freshman Pat Crowley continued his streak of quality starts, despite a strong wind blowing out at Crystal Lake Central, and the Cougars improved to 14-4 with the nonconference victory.
Crowley earned the win, throwing 4 innings while allowing 2 earned runs and striking out two. The left-hander picked three runners off first base in two innings.
Tyler Feece held the lead, striking out six in 2 innings. Closer Ryan Lane ended a seventh-inning rally by retiring the only batter he faced to earn his third save.
Crystal Lake Central grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first, but Vernon Hills struck back in the third, as Anthony Mazza led off with a single. After a strikeout, Chris Argianas singled. MJ Crowley then reached on a bunt to load the bases for Marras.
Marras fell behind 0-2 and battled to foul off two pitches. With the next swing of the bat, the junior put the Cougars up 4-1 with a deep drive over the fence in left-center field.
Nate Pollack homered in the bottom of the fourth to bring the Tigers within two.
In the Vernon Hills seventh, Ryan Knopoff hit a one-out double. He moved to third on a base hit by Argianas and scored when Marras reached on an error.
Knopoff’s run proved to be the difference, as Crystal Lake Central scored twice in the bottom of the inning.
Lakes 5, Yorkville 4: The Eagles rallied for 3 runs in the bottom of the seventh to pull out the nonconference game.
Yorkville led 4-0 after scoring a run in the top of the fifth and had held Lakes to 3 hits.
The Eagles’ offense then exploded over the next three innings for 6 hits and 5 runs for a big come-from-behind win.
With the Eagles trailing 4-2 heading into the bottom of the seventh, the first hitter of the inning grounded out.
Senior Brandon Grant then walked, and junior Nick Traska singled. After a pitching change, junior Jake Brown singled to load the bases.
Senior Kyle Noon picked up Lakes’ third single in a row to drive in Grant and Traska, tying the game at 4-4.
Junior Chris Hoffman drew a walk to load the bases. Then with the infield pulled in, senior Paul Kukulka hit a sharp groundball. Yorkville’s shortstop dove and came up with the ball, but his throw to the plate was offline and Brown scored the winning run.
Junior Steve Kohler picked up his first varsity win, allowing no runs on 1 hit in the seventh.
Brown, Noon (double) and Traska (double) each had 2 hit for Lakes, which improved to 8-7.
Carmel splits with Nazareth: The Corsairs dropped their opening game in LaGrange Park, 5-2, despite outhitting their opponent 7-5.
Tommy Ryan had a double for Carmel, which eked out a 2-1 win in Game 2.
Jimmy Ryan and Alex Young had doubles for the Corsairs (8-6), while lefty Tim Hendricks earned the victory. Blake Bucsa and Jimmy Ryan were both 2-for-3.
Grayslake Central 9, Fenton 4: After beating Grayslake North 5-2, the Rams won their second game of the day on their home diamond.
Ryan Hamrick paced Grayslake Central (9-4) at the plate with 3 hits, including a double. Austin Miller added a double and single, and Derek Idstein, Jon Gurchak and Cam Neely had doubles as well.
Idstein tossed the first 5 innings to pick up the victory. He allowed 1 earned run and struck out five.
“It was nice to get out and play with this weather,” Rams coach Troy Whalen said. “To get a conference win and a win over a possible regional opponent feels good.”