Lake County baseball notes: Streaking Lakes chasing school record for wins; NSC, CSL races coming down to the wire

The Lakes baseball team has some big plans.

Coach Brett Hill’s squad started the week 15-4-1 overall and 8-1 in Northern Lake County Conference action with a big series against perennial league front runner Grayslake Central still to come.

Hill pointed out the school record for wins in a season is 23, “so that is a possibility if we continue to play well,” he said.

Jake Kane was leading the Eagles in hitting with a .432 batting average (.596 on-base percentage), while Hunter Bergdahl was hitting .344 with 10 RBI. Carson Norris also was hitting .344 with 5 doubles, 2 homers, 12 RBI and 13 runs scored.

On the mound, Brett Beerbower started the week 3-0 with 1 save and had 36 strikeouts. Hill also praised the defensive work of Kane.

“Jake has been rock solid at second base,” he said.

Antioch update: Carter Mozina has been a defensive dandy in center field for Antioch (10-12, 5-4 Northern Lake County).

“Carter has been terrific in center field,” Sequoits coach Frank Fracek said. “He is following his brother, who graduated from our program last year and was our center fielder for the 3 previous seasons. Carter has been lights out in the outfield and has played terrific defensively.”

Hunter Feldkamp started the week hitting .355 (.437 slugging, 1.066 OPS) with 22 hits, 5 doubles, 4 homers and 23 RBI. Zach Rubin was hitting .319 (.417 slug) with 23 hits, 6 doubles and 17 runs scored.

On the mound, Liam Haren was 3-0 to start the week with 23 strikeouts in 27 innings to go with a 2.53 ERA. Colby Costello was 2-0 with 16 strikeouts in 11 1/3 innings (only 5 hits allowed) and a 1.23 ERA in his last 2 conference starts against Grant and Grayslake Central.

“Colby has been outstanding for us on the mound in his last 2 starts,” Fracek said. “He has really settled in and is giving us quality innings.”

Fracek said Antioch is starting to turn the corner at the right time.

“We had a horrific start to our season, which left a gross feeling for our players and coaching staff,” he explained. “As of late, we have been playing much better, but we have struggled to maintain consistency. We went 1-3 last week, but in our 3 losses we played really well and I loved how we competed. We lost each of those games by 1 run and had plenty of offensive traffic. We have had difficulty breaking through in those big moments. The good news for us is we are trending in the right direction and continuing to tighten up in areas where we need it most.”

Carmel Catholic update: Corsairs coach Scott Anderson is proud of how his team overcame an injury-riddled stretch after spring break where it went 0-6. Since then, Carmel has gone 6-4 with wins over Nazareth Academy, St. Viator, Benet Academy and a sweep of St. Patrick.

Carmel started the week 8-13 overall and 5-5 in East Suburban Catholic Conference play.

Defensively, senior Hayden Martinson has played every game at shortstop and sports a .934 fielding percentage.

Jose Ouimette hit .500 last week with a homer and 3 RBI. On the season, sophomore Cameron Nero is hitting .439 with 6 doubles and 2 home runs, while senior Jacob Pankau is hitting .362 with a homer and 17 RBI.

Junior Dalten Weber has been strong on the mound, posting a 1.73 ERA in 24 innings of work.

Grayslake North update: Tommy Brocks, Nate Wilson and Gavin Palo have been offensive constants for the Knights (7-13, 4-8 Northern Lake County).

Brocks started the week hitting .407 (11-for-27) with a double, 2 triples and a team-high 10 RBI to go with a .561 on-base percentage. Wilson was hitting .349 (15-for-43) with a double, 7 RBI and 2 steals to go with a .423 on-base percentage. Palo was hitting .327 (17-for-52) with 2 doubles, 8 RBI and 6 stolen bases and also had a .426 on-base percentage.

Andrew Wilson is 2-1 on the mound with a 0.67 ERA (2 earned runs in 21 innings) to go with 14 strikeouts against only 4 walks.

“Andrew has been awesome on the mound,” North coach Eric Lopez said.

Lopez also lauded the work of pitcher Andrew Winling. “Andrew has had a quiet, but dominating season on the mound,” he said. “I did not even realize how stellar his numbers were.”

Lopez is encouraged by the Knights’ progress, noting they have played a handful of good teams very tough (Lakes, Prairie Ridge, Crystal Lake Central and an 11-inning affair against Wauconda).

“We had a shot to win a few more games but struggled to close those games out and ended up losing close contests,” he said. “We keep preaching to the boys that we need to keep showing up. We continue to get better and I am excited to see how they go about these last two-and-a-half weeks.”

Lake Zurich update: The Bears (10-9, 4-4 North Suburban) hit .323 as a team and scored 42 runs during a recent 6-game stretch.

Colin Chung had 13 hits during a recent 10-game stretch and coach Derek Parola noted he has not made an error at second base this season.

During that same 10-game run, Alex Toth had 12 hits, including 1 triple and 4 home runs.

Carson Hamblin was leading the Bears with a .415 batting average (1.260 OPS) with 6 doubles, 2 homers, 24 runs scored, 10 walks, 11 hit by pitch and 12 stolen bases.

Nick Verden started the week with a 1.01 ERA and opponents hitting .192 against him thanks in part to 21 strikeouts in 20 2/3 innings of work (4 walks).

Libertyville update: The Wildcats find themselves in the thick of a tight North Suburban Conference race.

To start the week, Libertyville (17-6-1 overall) was 6-2 in NSC action, tied with Warren and sitting a game back from league-leading Lake Forest (7-1) with 6 games remaining in conference play.

Trevor Wallace was leading the Wildcats (who were riding a 7-game winning streak to start the week) in hitting with a .386 batting average. Wallace was particularly hot with the bat last week where he went 7-for-12 with 2 doubles, 10 RBI and 5 runs scored.

Wallace (SS) and Madden Cotts (2B) have been key defensively for coach Matt Thompson’s squad.

“They turn a lot of double plays,” he pointed out.

Vernon Hills update: The Cougars (15-6-1 overall and winners of 5 straight) find themselves in the thick of the Central Suburban North race at 8-1 to start the week. Highland Park sits in first place and the two teams will face off next week with a possible division title on the line.

Pitcher Ken Kim (30 strikeouts in 25 2/3 innings, 1.09 ERA) has had back-to-back 5-plus-inning outings and gave up less than 2 runs in each. Kim threw a complete game against Niles North 2 weeks ago and led the Cougars to a win against Evanston last week.

Vernon Hills coach Pasquale Atteo also is high on the defensive play of Devin Ratajczyk. “Devin makes the hard plays look easy,” he said. “He is consistent and has a great demeanor.”

Ratajczyk also is hitting .342 with 13 RBI, while Connor Brockway is hitting .329 with 27 RBI.

Warren Township update: The Blue Devils were 15-6 overall through the early part of the week (and winners of 6 in a row). A pair of wins against Stevenson put Warren at 8-2 in North Suburban action. Lake Forest started the week in first place a game ahead of both Warren and Libertyville.

Mason Palmer has been a force out of the bullpen for Warren, sporting a 0.40 ERA to start the week. “Mason is being used in a closer’s role,” Warren coach Clint Smothers said. “He has been lights out.”

In addition to that 0.40 ERA, Palmer had 33 strikeouts (12 looking) in 17 1/3 innings to start the week, allowing only 1 earned run.

In Warren’s 6-3 win over Stevenson, Peyton Balanag threw a 7-inning complete game and struck out nine.

Braylon McCarthy went 2-for-4 with an RBI, while Colin Dreckmann had a triple and 3 RBI and Mason Durst had a double and an RBI.

McCarthy fanned 10 in 7 innings and allowed 1 earned run in a Warren 7-2 win against Stevenson. Dreckmann had a triple and 3 RBI, while McCarthy had a hit and 2 RBI and Jameson O’Neill had a hit and drew a walk.