Baseball: Lakes denies late threat by Harvard in Class 3A regional semifinal

A suicide squeeze attempt ended up giving new life to Lakes' baseball team in the Class 3A postseason Thursday.

With the regional host Eagles leading 3-2 in the top of the seventh and No. 10 Harvard batting, the tying run was at third base with one out.

On an attempted suicide squeeze, the bunt was popped into the air to pitcher Ben Milewski. He caught the ball, then continued toward third base and tagged out the runner, who'd broken toward the plate with the pitch, for a game-ending double play.

Tim Ohlwein (7-2) earned the victory after tossing 4⅓ innings, allowing 1 earned run and 4 hits while getting 7 strikeouts. Milewski allowed 2 hits and no runs in earning a save.

Among the key producers at the plate for Lakes (17-14-1) were Tom Jones (2-for-2, RBI), Matt Milewski (2-for-2, walk) and Ben Milewski (1-for-3, 2 RBI).

No. 7 Lakes will play No. 2 Richmond-Burton for the regional championship at 10 a.m. Saturday at Lakes.

Stevenson 5, Glenbrook South 3: At Palatine, Henry Marchese hit a solo homer and RBI triple, and the third-seeded Patriots got by the No. 19 seed, scoring twice in the bottom of the fifth to go up 4-3.

Jack Cappalli also belted a solo home run for Stevenson, which advances to Saturday's 10 a.m. regional final against the winner of Friday's game between No. 6 Lake Forest and No. 10 Palatine.

Robbie McGaha had a triple as well for the Patriots, and Justin Stark earned the win in relief.

Grant 8, Crystal Lake South 7 (9 innings): At Cary-Grove, the sixth-seeded Bulldogs came up with the upset, eliminating the No. 2 seed by scoring a run in the top of the ninth to snap a 7-7 tie.

Ben Kusiak went 4-for-4 with a homer, double and 2 RBI for Grant (24-13), which will play either No. 3 Cary-Grove or No. 5 McHenry in Saturday's 2 p.m. regional final.

Bryan Libby pitched 2 shutout innings in relief, striking out three to improve to 9-1. Shawn Riley threw 3⅓ scoreless innings with 3 strikeouts and also went 3-for-4 at the plate.

The Bulldogs also got a homer from James Pendley (2-for-5), and Ethan Unger had a double and an RBI.

Wauconda 17, Northside 1 (5 inn.): At Wauconda, the top-seeded Bulldogs rolled past their first-round playoff opponent with a regional semifinal victory.

Wauconda generated 13 hits - six of them for extra bases - and drew 8 walks. The Bulldogs are scheduled to play for Class 3A regional title at 11 a.m. Saturday against the winner of Friday's Lakeview/Johnsburg semifinal.

Drake Berman earned the victory after limiting Northside to 4 hits.

Warren 7, Hersey 3: At Warren, the Huskies generated plenty of action on the basepaths in Gurnee, but the top Class 4A Stevenson sectional seed did a better job of getting runners across home plate.

Tanner Luke and Luke LaSalvia had 3 hits apiece and Tyler Haffey and Zach Blevins both had 2 hits for Hersey (14-19-1). LaSalvia drove in all 3 Hersey runs.

The Huskies outhit Warren 11-6, but all of the Blue Devils' runs were unearned as Hersey finished with 8 errors.

Brendan Stonequist allowed 6 hits in 5 innings for Hersey, while Sam LaMotte and Riley Kocen shared time on the mound for Warren.

Matt Burch and Tanner Dyer drove in 2 runs apiece and Matt Temander had 2 hits for Warren (26-10), which awaits the winner of Friday's 4:30 p.m. Fremd/Deerfield game in a 10 a.m. Saturday regional title matchup.

Carmel 11, Woodstock 1: At Vernon Hills, Griffin Norton improved to 7-0 with a complete-game 3-hitter, and Matt Collins ended the Class 3A regional semifinal with a 3-run homer in the sixth.

Austin Ehren was 2-for-2 with a homer, 3 RBI and 4 runs scored. Freshman Drew Wiegman and Cooper Johnson (RBI) doubled for the third-seeded Corsairs (22-9), who will play No. 11 Wheaton Academy in Saturday's 10 a.m. final.

Mundelein 9, Highland Park 0: At Libertyville, the second-seeded Mustangs advanced to Saturday's 10 a.m. regional final against No. 7 Libertyville.

Libertyville beat Mundelein (26-9) twice during North Suburban Lake Division action.