Magical trip for Grayslake Central

Grayslake Central's baseball team concluded its annual Florida trip with a pair of victories Monday and Tuesday in the Magic Kingdom.

The wins allowed the Rams to finish 3-1 on the trip and hiked their overall record to 5-1.

They played on little rest Tuesday morning after a victory Monday night but still bested Methacton (Pa.) 8-2.

Nick Richter picked up the win, allowing just 1 run. Mitch Tielke and Mark Gawinski closed out the Ram victory.

Offensively, Austin Miller paced the Grayslake Central offense, ripping a triple and 2 singles to go with 3 RBI. Josh DeAngelis chipped in a double.

"The kids did a nice job of bouncing back on a short night of sleep," Rams coach Troy Whalen said. "To go 3-1 against this type of competition is encouraging."

On Monday night, it took 8 innings, but the Rams came away victorious 3-2 over a strong Jerome Dublin team out of Dublin, Ohio. Matt Murphy and Cam Neely produced run-scoring singles for the Rams and a Jackson White sacrifice fly in the top of the eighth brought home Andrew Hosford with the eventual winning run.

Junior Austin Leggett pitched out of a jam in the bottom of the seventh and then struck out the side in the bottom of the eighth in earning his first career varsity win.

Kevin DeRue was outstanding on the mound for the Rams, tossing the first 6 innings. The senior righty allowed 1 earned run on 3 hits with 8 strikeouts and 1 walk.

"This was a great win against an extremely talented team," Whalen said of Dublin, a school of 2800 kids that won its sectional last year in the large school division in Ohio. "It was a playoff-type atmosphere and game considering it was played in March. We made some great defensive plays, Kevin and Austin were outstanding and our offense did just enough.

"It's early in the year to be seeing a kid pumping upper 80s with two other pitches he can throw for strikes. We had some nice at-bats."

The Rams will enjoy a few days off before opening Fox Valley Conference play next Tuesday against McHenry.

Chaparral 12, Libertyville 1: On an 87-degree, cloudless day in the desert Tuesday, the Wildcats fell to 0-2 on their Arizona trip, as they fell to an elite program for the second day in a row.

Chaparral plays its home games on a perfectly manicured field in a terrific setting with a ring of mountains just beyond the left-field line. The program has earned 23 regional championships, 8 state titles and 4 state runner-up finishes. In left-center field are the retired numbers of Firebird alumni, including Paul Konerko of the White Sox.

Libertyville sophomore Dar Townsend took his first varsity loss. Singles by A.J. Schurr, Joey Eichmann, Tyler Schweigert and Brad Martin (RBI), and a double by Chad Uhler were all the Wildcats could muster.

The Firebirds count two Arizona State signees and a University of Arizona signee.

Hamilton 7, Libertyville 6: In Chandler, Ariz., on Monday, the Wildcats fell in extra innings to the host school, as their Arizona opponent rallied for an unearned run after two were out in the bottom of the seventh to tie it and then won it with a two-out, RBI single in the eighth.

Brandon Fowkes hit a 2-run homer in the fifth to give Libertyville A 5-4 lead. Then after Hamilton drew even in the bottom half of the inning, Tyler Schweigert put the Wildcats back on top in the sixth with a solo shot.

Libertyville is in Arizona for Spring Break for the eighth consecutive season. Its first opponent, Hamilton, has won three Arizona Class 5A state championships and boasts two state runner-up finishes in the last seven years.

Libertyville's Chad Uhler had 2 hits, including an RBI single, in the loss.

Junior Davis Ogilvie relieved Libertyville starter Joey Eichmann, who had battled hard in giving his team a chance to win, to start the fifth. But the Huskies plated an unearned run in the fifth to tie the score at 5-5.

Lakes 10, Bloomington 6: On Monday, the Eagles opened up their annual spring break trip with a big win over a solid Bloomington team at Illinois Wesleyan University.

Lakes jumped out to an early 7-1 lead keyed by a 6-run second inning. The inning started with walks to Wills Massie and Nick Traska. Mark Ortman then followed up with a bunt single to load the bases. After Josh Rigali's fielder's choice drove in a run, Jacob Brown and Andrew Tubek added back-to-back run-scoring singles.

With two outs, Travis Vanderwall drove in the fourth run of the inning with a single to right. This set the stage for Paul Kukulka, who recorded the first of his 2 doubles to plate Tubek and Vanderwall.

With the help of a few Lakes' errors and some uncharacteristic wildness by the Eagles pitchers, Bloomington got within 7-6 score after four.

But the Raiders' comeback was squelched in the top of the fifth inning when the Eagles tacked on 3 more runs. The big hit in the inning was Kukulka's two-out, 2-run double.

A.J. Metzger did a solid job in relief of D.J. Snelten, throwing the final four innings and working out of a jam in the seventh to earn the save.

CL Central 8, Wauconda 6: Sophomore Shawn Sundquist homered for the visiting Bulldogs in the loss Tuesday.

Kevin Fessler doubled.

Mundelein 12, Carbondale 2: At Carbondale on Tuesday, Matt Risdon went 4-for-5 with a double and 3 RBI, Tyler Adams was 3-for-5 with 2 doubles, and Mike O'Donoghue had a 3-for-4 effort with 3 RBI.

Mundelein also got doubles from Luis Carrasco and Charlie Gandolfi.

Dante Martinez picked up the win.