Lake Park turns momentum its way
Lake Park ace Christian Taugner generally doesn’t need a lot of support, so when his team got him three quick runs Thursday afternoon to erase a one-run deficit, the Lancers were well on their way to advancing to Saturday’s regional final.
Visiting Glenbard West, the No. 9 seed in the Schaumburg sectional, touched Taugner (8-3) for a run in the first on an RBI single by Ryan Kavanaugh, but the junior right-hander did not allow another run in a 5-1 victory that sets the stage for a conference rival regional final against 16th-seeded Bartlett, which surprised No. 1 Geneva on Wednesday.
“We felt more confident after we got those three runs, and I felt more confident after my team picked me up like that,” said Taugner, who pitched a 6-hitter on a windy Thursday afternoon.
Hilltoppers senior Kavanaugh was solid on the mound himself, but a few pitches to the backstop helped the Lancers score three times in the first inning, and then some tricky wind-aided flyballs later in the game helped Lake Park (20-16) tack on single runs in the third and fourth innings to take a commanding 5-1 lead.
“We knew coming in that we had to play clean baseball and maybe win a 1-0 or 2-1 game,” Hilltoppers coach Brian Wojtun said. “That (3-run first) gave the momentum back to them and then their kid was just on.”
It didn’t take Lake Park long to answer the Hilltoppers quick score, as Eric Vatch led off with a single and then scored on Tommy Spear’s double. One out later John Schram singled and Anthony Gallina was hit by a pitch. That set the stage for two more runs to cross the plate when a pair of Kavanaugh pitches skipped past freshman catcher Will Simoneit.
“It’s always good to respond when the other team scores,” Lake Park coach Dan Colucci said. “But on a day like today with the wind all wild, you don’t know how many runs you’ll need.”
As it turned out, those first-inning runs were plenty for Taugner, who struck out seven Hilltoppers (20-16) and walked just one batter.
“Christian did a great job holding them to just that one run,” he said. “It’s tough to play high school baseball in conditions like this, but we did a nice job in the field as well.”
The Lancers’ Nick Turner reached on a wind-aided double to right to start the third and scored when Schram followed with a blooper to right. Vatch scored the game’s final run in the fourth after he walked and came around on a Turner triple to deep right.
Colucci, whose squad took two of three from Bartlett during the regular season, is not about to look past the Hawks just because they’re not a high seed.
“Everyone in the playoffs is dangerous, and Bartlett just won its last two games,” he said.
The regional final is scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday in Roselle.