Lake Zurich bands together in victory

It took eight innings, five pitchers and a late rally, but Lake Zurich’s baseball team did Tuesday what it’s been doing a lot of lately.

Win.

The Bears scored a run in the bottom of the eighth to pull out a 10-9 victory over Lakes in a North Suburban Conference crossover. It was the fifth win in six games for Lake Zurich (7-12).

Coach Gary Simon said his Bears “refused to lose” going into the bottom of the seventh trailing 9-6. Joey Holtz, Anthony Drago and Dom DeMicco all delivered timely hits for Lake Zurich to force extra innings.

Derek Kornfeind retired two batters, including one on strikes, to end the top of the eighth and earn the win. DeMicco was the Bears’ starting pitcher and threw 4 innings. He was followed to the mound by Mike Shastany, Nick Aiello and Ryan Maziarka.

“DeMicco, Shastany, Aiello, Maziarka and Kornfeind all played a major role in today’s victory,” Simon said.

Drago homered and singled for Lake Zurich, which also got 2 hits from James DeGeorge.

Lakes (7-12) got home runs from Dan Jackson and Eric Kuhlmann. Kyle Vanderwall (2 RBI) and Nick Seketa each had 2 hits for the Eagles.

Grayslake Central 3, Crystal Lake Central 2: Kyle Balling’s sharp single to left field plated Jay Hoffman from second base in the top of the ninth inning, as the Rams stayed hot with the Fox Valley Conference win.

It was the fifth victory in a row for Grayslake Central (16-8).

Balling’s hit made a winner out of Erik Skutnick, who blanked the Tigers over the final three innings.

“Typical FVC game with outstanding pitching and outstanding defensive plays,” Rams coach Troy Whalen said.

Grayslake Central starter Kevin Peloza tossed the first 6 innings, allowing 2 earned runs and striking out five. Kyle Clark had an RBI double for the Rams, while Balling, Hoffman and Justin Allen all had a pair of a singles. Sterling Dixon had a double.

Warren 8, Zion-Benton 3: Nick Orslini was 3-for-3 with 3 RBI for the Blue Devils in the North Suburban Lake Division game.

Ben Dinter went 2-for-3 with a walk for Warren.

Stevenson 12, Lake Forest 6: Tony Heiser went 5-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored, and Zach Novoselsky was 4-for-4 with 2 doubles and 3 RBI, as the visiting Patriots picked up the North Suburban Lake Division win.

Mitchell Goll also had a big day at the plate for Stevenson, going 3-for-5 with 2 doubles and 4 RBI. Austin Black was 2-for-3 with 2 walks, 4 runs scored and an RBI. Jake Klancnik pitched 2 innings in relief of starter Matt Allen to earn the win. Klancnik allowed just 1 hit and struck out three.

Grayslake North 13, Woodstock 1: Alex Alvarez and Carl Russell homered and drove in 3 runs apiece for the host Knights, who improved to 11-4 and 8-3 in the Fox Valley Conference Fox Division.

Grayslake North received 2 hits apiece from Alvarez, Russell and Adam Gomski (double, 2 RBI). Sammie Stanfel tripled and also had 3 RBI for the Knights. Matt Eney tripled as well.

Vernon Hills 6, Grant 5: In a back-and-forth North Suburban Prairie game, the host Cougars found themselves down a run going into the bottom of the sixth.

Tommy Earhart (1-for-2, walk, run) started things off for Vernon Hills by drawing a walk. He moved to second on a single by Jordan Freibrun (3-for-4, 2 runs, stolen base). After a failed bunt attempted resulted in an out, Tyler Feece (3-for-3, double, run) singled to load the bases.

John Goehrke drew a bases-loaded walk on a full count to tie the score. After an infield fly, Dylan McNamara drew a walk to put the Vernon Hills up a run. Feece scored the eventual game winning run on a passed ball.

Things got interesting in the Grant seventh. After an outstanding defensive play by Goehrke, Simeon Lucas (2-for-3, double, 3 runs) and Brent Spohr (3-for-4, 2 doubles) had back-to-back hits for the Bulldogs. Jake Boyer then intentionally walked Jake Ring to load the bases.

Boyer then got the next two Grant hitters to ground out to Freibrun at third to end the threat.

Antioch 20, Round Lake 1: Matt DeJong was 4-for-4 with 3 doubles and 5 RBI to lead the Sequoits in North Suburban Prairie action.

Jerry LaSaint went 3-for-3 and scored 4 runs for the Sequoits, while Adam Harvey had a double, triple and 3 RBI. Cameron Slate also had a double for Antioch.

Jalen Young’s double accounted for Round Lake’s lone hit. Antioch starter Dave Rzewnicki pitched 3 innings for the win.