Nine-year wait ends with Lake Park victory

Not only did Lake Park baseball coach Dan Colucci get the cooler of water dumped on him, he also received a face full of shaving cream.

After a nine-year wait the Lancers were in full celebration mode.

Lake Park rolled to a 10-3 victory over Bartlett in the Class 4A Willowbrook regional final Saturday in Villa Park to claim the program's first regional title since 2001.

The sixth-seeded Lancers (21-16) scored 8 runs in the fifth and sixth innings to break open a tight game against the underdog Hawks (13-21), the 14th seed. Lake Park advances to play No. 2 Wheaton North (27-9) in Thursday's St. Charles East sectional semifinals.

"Once we got that insurance run to make it 5-3, we were totally relaxed," Colucci said. "They just kept tacking on and it was contagious. Early on we were hesitant at the plate, but then they just stuck with their concepts."

Bartlett, playing in its third straight regional final, took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first on a 2-run double to deep center field by Phil Leonard. The inning looked similar to the big start the Hawks enjoyed in Wednesday's semifinals against Willowbrook, but this time Lake Park starter Trevor Koehn minimized the damage.

A bases-loaded walk to Anthony Valldeperas made it 2-1 in the bottom of the first, and then a successful "walk-off" double steal from first and third allowed Brandon Boyle to sprint home with the tying run in the third.

Bartlett again took the lead at 3-2 on Leonard's fifth-inning RBI single, but Lake Park's Zach Tsiodras gave the Lancers the lead for good with a 2-run double in the bottom of the fifth.

"I'm proud of the way the guys fought," said Bartlett coach Russ Lorenz. "We could have just rolled over after they jumped on us, but we stayed with it and, you know, we were up 3-2 in the fifth. So I'm proud of them."

Ahead 4-3 in the sixth, the Lancers sent 10 batters to the plate. Peter Spear, Artie Monaco, Boyle, Tsiodras, Kaiser and Jake McNamara each had RBI singles or doubles as 6 runs crossed the plate.

With hard-throwing Peter Spear cruising in his fourth inning of relief, the 10-3 lead was secure. A 1-2-3 seventh inning ended the game and sent the Lancers to the sectional semifinals.

"We always believed in ourselves," Tsiodras said. "Now we're getting the opportunity to show what we're capable of doing."