St. Viator wins its regional with 5-inning victory over Lake Forest
Purposeful.
That's how host St. Viator played Saturday in the Class 3A regional final.
St. Viator, which weathered a huge storm Thursday in its playoff opener, bounced Lake Forest 11-1 in five innings to win the title.
The Lions (34-2), who won their second regional title in a row and ninth in the last 12 years, will meet No. 5 seed Vernon Hills Wednesday at the Grayslake Central Sectional. Vernon Hills beat Crystal Lake Central 4-3.
St. Viator almost didn't make it to the regional final. The top-seeded Lions had to rally to beat 16th-seeded Woodstock 8-7 in 9 innings.
"Thursday was kind of crazy," St. Viator coach Mike Manno said. "But our guys answered the bell today. It was a great call for us and I think it showed."
Lake Forest (13-18) took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first thanks to a walk and a Viator error. Casey Hintz settled in from there thanks to a pair of double plays and six strikeouts.
"The other day we struggled because we weren't throwing strikes," said Hintz, who allowed just one hit.
"After walking the first guy, I settled down a bit. My main goal was just to throw strikes and not to walk guys."
The Lions banged out 12 hits and every batter reached base at least once.
No one in the Lions lineup is hotter than Dylan Harer. The junior, who had the game-wining hit on Thursday along with a home run, went 3-for-3 Saturday with three RBI and two runs scored.
"It has been going well for me since the playoffs started," Harer said. "The ball is looking nice, the weather has warmed up and the team is coming to play."
Joe Bollard was 3-for-3 and scored on each of the hits.
"Everything was looking nice out there," Bollard said. "I knew we had it under control today. I knew we weren't going to let it get out of hand like we did the other day. We kind of learned our lesson that we have to play our own game."
Viator pulled ahead with three runs in the second inning. Ian Farrell and Chase Carroll each had RBI singles and Hintz had a sacrifice fly to score Carroll.
The Lions broke the game open the following inning.
Dominic McKevitt opened the four-run inning with his first homer of the season.
"I have been waiting for it for a while," McKevitt said. "It really got things going for us and got us in a groove."
Harer had his second RBI single to score Bollard. Harer and Conor Giroux then both scored on an errant pickoff attempt to make it 7-1.
"We had really good quality at bats today," Manno said. "I thought we ran the bases really well and Casey (Hintz) does what he does on the mound."