Schneider, Warren storm past Lake Forest

Tom Myers coached his final baseball game Thursday for Lake Forest, yet it looked more like a score from football, a sport he coached for a dozen seasons for the Scouts.

Warren 14, Lake Forest 0.

The Blue Devils used dominant pitching from senior Zach Schneider (9-2) and capitalized on a slew of errors and walks to win the Class 4A regional semifinal played at Lake Zurich. The win was Warren's second in three tries this spring against the Scouts and avenged the Scouts' 9-6 win less than two weeks ago when the Blue Devils couldn't contain a 5-0 lead.

"We've been very sporadic defensively, almost deficient at times, especially early in the season," Myers said. "We've had games where we've had 8 and 10 errors (in a game), and today was pretty close to that."

Take, for instance, the Warren half of the second.

With the Blue Devils leading 2-0,Matt Dowd led off with a walk. Two outs later, Patrick Kenney singled. Scott Heelan's routine fly to right was then dropped.

Warren went on to score 7 runs that inning, highlighted by Pat Oliver's third home run of the season.

"I wasn't really expecting it to go over (the right-field fence), but it did," Oliver said. "It hit off the top of the fence and went over. That was the victory inning. That basically put them away, put the dagger in the heart of Lake Forest.

This was a big game."

Warren (27-9) will next play Saturday against the winner of today's game between Glenbrook North and host Lake Zurich.

"I thought we had a good approach today," said Warren coach Clint Smothers. "We're finally healthy. We've been going 21/2 weeks without (different players in the lineup), and it showed. But now we have everyone back and we're getting back to playing how we used to play."

Warren didn't relent offensively in the third, and Lake Forest's woes continued. After getting the leadoff hitter out, Scouts senior Will Frain walked the next two Warren hitters. Mike Herrmann then drilled a Frain pitch to left field that was misplayed for a two-base error.

Junior Kevin Colburn greeted new Lake Forest pitcher Brett Bartuch with a single, driving in two. Warren led 13-0 after three.

"They were just better than us today," Myers said. "You cannot give a team like this 9 runs to play with (in the first two innings).

"I thought Will Frain really pitched well. He was getting groundballs and flyballs, but we just didn't catch them. I feel sorry for him."

Schneider, meanwhile, mowed down the Scouts. He threw 42 pitches in his 3 innings of work, walking one and allowing only 1 hit: a double by junior Spencer Stitlz.

"It doesn't look like he's overpowering, but his ball moves," Smothers said. "It really runs away from right-handers. He's been steady, our No. 1 all year."

Schneider's only losses this season have been to St. Charles North and Stevenson.

"It was definitely working today," Schneider said. "My fastball had a lot of movement on it and my curveball had a lot of bite. I thought it would be a lot closer than this. We just came out with a lot intensity and excitement and were ready to go."

So, Coach Myers, is this really it?

"I think I can coach somewhere, if I really want to, if I want to step back into it," he said.

"But I think there's more of a chance that you'd see me as an assistant coach as opposed to a head coach. I might even want to come back (to Lake Forest) as an assistant, even at the freshman level.

"This game was bittersweet. It's a tough one to go out on."

Myers coached more than 1,000 baseball games for the Scouts.

"I think I've won more than I lost," he said, laughing.