Vernon Hills gets record 26th win
Being one of the few right-handed starting pitchers on Vernon Hills’ baseball team, Steve Nelson can sometimes can get overlooked.
On Saturday, Nelson was better than all right.
The Cougars’ usual third baseman, Nelson pitched Vernon Hills to a 5-4 win over Niles West in a state tournament warm-up.
Chris Marras was the offensive hero with a grand slam, as the Cougars tied their school record with their 26th win.
“The story of the day was Steve Nelson,” Vernon Hills coach Jay Czarnecki said. “Steven knew that the team needed him to go deep in the game. He responded with a great outing, as he pitched like a No. 1.”
Allowing only 4 hits and 1 run through 62⁄3 innings, it looked like Nelson was going to cruise to the victory. But that was when things got interesting.
With a man on and a full count, Nelson issued a walk. The Wolves’ No. 9 hitter then tripled, bringing the tying run to the plate. The next hitter delivered a two-out RBI single to right, but Nelson worked ahead in the count and was able to induce a 1-3 groundout to end the game.
Offensively, Vernon Hills (26-7) scored a run in the first on Tyler Feece’s single that drove in MJ Crowley.
The big inning for the Cougars came in the fifth. With one out, Jake Boyer singled. Crowley drew a walk. Pinch hitter Pat Crowley then delivered a single, which brought up Marras with nowhere to put him.
With a 2-2 count, Marras deposited a fastball over the left field fence for a grand slam.
Marras also had a double.
Mundelein 17, Highland Park 5: Making his first start since early in the season, Ryan Borucki pitched 2 scoreless innings (38 pitches), allowing only 1 hit (a double) and striking out three, all in the second inning.
Will Farmer’s 4-for-4 day, which included a double, led a 19-hit attack, as the Mustangs won their 30th game.
Torr Randau belted a 2-run homer and finished 2-for-4, as did Chris Maranto, who had a triple. Mitchell Schulewitz doubled twice for Mundelein (30-4), Jordan Bregenzer went 2-for-5 with a double and Zach Osisek also hit a double.
Lakes 9, Marian Central 6: On senior day in Lake Villa, the Eagles picked up their 19th win of the season.
Trailing 4-1, Lakes (19-16), scored twice in the third and four times in the fourth. The Eagles got solid relief pitching from junior Nick Seketa and seniors Chris DeRue and Chris Hoffman.
Lakes was led offensively by senior Rob Thompson (3-for-4, 2 runs, 3 RBI) and senior Nick Traska (3-for-5, 2 runs, RBI).
Seketa earned the win, and Chris Hoffman pitched a scoreless seventh for the save.
Wauconda 7, Grayslake Central 6: The host Bulldogs beat a qualify opponent for their 20th win of the season.
It’s the first time Wauconda has won 20 games in several years, coach Bill Sliker said.
Wauconda (20-11) got a pair of hits each from Tony Kaminsky, Jake Ziolkowski, John Kamakis and Alec Malisheski. Ziolkowski and Jack Botheroyd had doubles.
Brandon Gibis pitched 42⁄3 innings for the win, and Ryan Gick tossed the final 21⁄3 innings for the save.
Grayslake Central fell to 26-9.
Grant 16, Woodstock North 1: The Bulldogs picked up their 20th win of the season, as Jared Helmich improved to 8-1.
Grant (20-11) scored 11 runs in the top of the first inning.
Antioch splits: Antioch rebounded from a 7-4 loss to Marengo in the first game of a doubleheader and got a 6-0 victory in the second game.
Nick Muskat got the win on the mound, striking out 4 and walking just 1 in four innings.
Catcher Joe Gregory had 2 hits, including a home run and finished with 3 RBI. Emery Paramski also had 2 hits.
Lake Zurich 12, Evanston 2: The Bears rolled up a season-high 17 hits en route to the nonconference victory.
John Orlando led the way with 4 hits (4-for-4) while Joey Pizzolato had 3 hits, including a triple and James DeGeorge, Sean Eder, Jacob LaRue and Dom Demicco each had 2 hits. One of Eder’s hits was a home run, his sixth of the season.
Lake Zurich, which moves to 23-10 overall, also played error-free defense, which helped junior lefty Tanner Kiser on the mound. He finished with 7 strikeouts in five innings to get the win. His record on the mound is 2-1.