Baseball: Bach, South Elgin cool off Lake Park

Junior right-hander Kyle Bach pitched five scoreless innings and received solid support from his defense during South Elgin’s 5-1 nonconference victory over Lake Park (8-4) Saturday in Roselle.

After pitching out of a bases-loaded situation in the first inning, Bach retired 10 of the next 12 batters on his way to the victory with help from junior reliever David Kiel (3 strikeouts).

“That was big for me,” said Bach of the early jam. “I had a lot of walks in the first (inning), adjusting to the mound and trying to find my groove. The defense behind me really got me out of that inning.”

After allowing a walk to leadoff man Max Alvarado, Bach issued a 1-out walk to Josh Kolton before hitting Antonio Leto to loaded the bases with 2 outs.

The 6-foot-4 Bach worked out of the jam on a grounder to second baseman Alex Muro.

“The first inning sets the tone for the game,” said Bach, who walked 3 and struck out 3.

“It was awesome,” Storm first-year coach David Palmer said of Bach. “He wanted the ball this week. He was ready for the moment. He came out amped up a little bit and handled it nicely.

“He’s got such good stuff — he just has to trust it.”

South Elgin (7-4) grabbed a 1-0 lead in the second without the benefit of a base hit.

Three consecutive 1-out walks to Tyler Weeks, Jacob Robertson, and Jonathan Niksich loaded the bases before Weeks scored on a wild pitch.

In the fourth, the Storm added a pair of unearned runs thanks in part to the Lancers’ shaky defense.

Back-to-back, 2-out singles from Niksich and Ethan Tuftedal put runners on first and second before Nathan Robertson hit what appeared to be a routine grounder to the right side of the infield that was mishandled for an error.

Two pitches later, a wild pitch sent Niksich home before Zach Barkho worked a bases-loaded walk to force in another run to make it 3-0.

South Elgin added insurance runs over the final two innings on Barkho’s sacrifice fly and Jacob Robertson’s run-scoring single.

“We made some mistakes on the bases that we need to clean up but for the most part, I was very happy with the way we played today,” said Palmer.

Muro (2 for 3, walk) and Barkho (1 for 2, walk) combined for 3 of South Elgin’s 8 hits out of the first two spots in the batting order.

“Muro and Barkho are the leaders of this team,” said Palmer. “I trust them with the bat in their hands. Muro executed a perfect hit and run, and I’ve got two sophomores (Evan Gomez and Max Aziaka) in the three and four spots who aren’t playing like sophomores right now.

“It’s fun to watch.”

Defensively, catcher Nathan Robertson threw out a would-be base stealer in the third, and third baseman Niksich made an over-the-shoulder catch of a foul popup to end the fifth.

“The defense behind me today — honestly, most of my credit goes to them,” said Bach, who has allowed just 1 run in 3 outings this season. “It’s all about putting up zeroes on the scoreboard for my team.”

Nico Gattuso drove in the Lancers’ lone run with an RBI double in the sixth.

“They’re a very good team, but we can’t give up the bases we gave up today,” Lancers coach Dan Colucci said of his team’s 4 errors. “We didn’t execute our pitches, and we were tentative with the bats — just not the type of baseball that’s deserving of a win.”