Baseball: Lake Park ousts Rolling Meadows

Pitcher Jim McDonald and most of the senior-heavy Lake Park baseball roster hustled to graduation ceremonies Thursday night at the Sears Centre with an extra sense of accomplishment.

After McDonald's complete game with 11 strikeouts, the Lancers returned to the regional final by defeating Rolling Meadows 4-1 in the Class 4A Lake Park regional semifinals at Wheaton College's Pfund Stadium at Legion Field in Carol Stream.

"There was a little motivation because we wanted to go to graduation with a W, obviously. It makes it a little more enjoyable," McDonald said. "It felt good with the warm weather so that might have helped, but I don't think the graduation part had any velocity."

Lake Park (21-12), the No. 4 seed in the Schaumburg sectional, plays for the regional title at 11 a.m. Saturday at Lake Park's West Campus against No. 5 St. Francis (22-12) or No. 12 Willowbrook (17-16), who meet at 2 p.m. Friday at Pfund Stadium.

Both semifinals were rained out Tuesday.

"The boys wanted to play today. For them it was no big deal," said Lake Park coach Dan Colucci, who used all 10 seniors.

"The school made some nice arrangements if they got to graduation late to have everyone sit together. There were no issues. They don't even have to rush to get there. They miss all of the speeches and song and all of that stuff, but they'll still hear their names and walk across."

The Lancers seek their third regional title in four years and back-to-back regional titles for only the second time. They scored single runs in the first three innings and what proved to be an important run in the bottom of the sixth for a 4-0 advantage.

No. 3 hitter Colin Fowich had an RBI triple and RBI double, leadoff hitter Colin Cook was 3-for-4, sophomore catcher Zach Aehlert had two ground-rule doubles and Joe Kennedy had an RBI double.

McDonald (7-2) threw 112 pitches and allowed six hits with four walks. He was most impressive in the fourth inning.

The No. 20 Mustangs (7-24) loaded the bases with no outs on singles by Jack Lincoln and Marco Perez, who had two hits, around a walk to Ryan Laboda. McDonald struck out the Nos. 6-7-8 hitters swinging on 11 pitches.

"It's a big momentum swing," McDonald said. "Bases loaded, nobody out, you're supposed to push a couple of runs across. When you can strike a few guys out like that, it helps a lot."

Rolling Meadows still nearly rallied after two outs in the seventh. No. 9 hitter Justin Thompson walked, Luka Pavlakis singled and Trent McNally hit an RBI ground-rule double. McDonald then got designated hitter Lincoln, the only hitter McDonald didn't strike out, to hit a hard groundout on the first pitch to end the game.

All seven seniors played for the Mustangs, who won seven games for the second straight season.

"We fought and gave ourselves a chance in the seventh inning. The guys didn't quit," Rolling Meadows coach Jim Lindeman said.

"(McDonald) turned it up a notch. He threw much harder after the bases were loaded and threw some great breaking balls. He made some great pitches, and we just weren't good enough. That's probably the best pitcher we've seen this year, give or take a Notre Dame guy or two."

Lake Park scored a run in the second and third innings, both times with two outs, respectively, on a bases-loaded wild pitch and Kennedy's double. Rolling Meadows pitcher Mark Dillon (1-4) picked runners off first in each of the first two innings.

With runners on second and first and two outs in the third, McDonald picked off the Mustangs' lead runner to end that threat.

"Jim was really spotting his fastball. His curveball looked good. It's great working with a pitcher that can throw strikes and hit your mitt every time," Aehlert said. "(The seniors) were really focused. The eyes were on the prize with a W and now they can go have fun with graduation."

Aehlert and junior second baseman Matt Latoria were the Lancers' only non-seniors to play. Aehlert began the season on the sophomore level wearing No. 10, but because that also is the number of starting third baseman Colin Jamison, Aehlert wore the No. 1 sophomore jersey of pitcher A.J. Dallmann.

Aehlert was frustrated that both of his deep hits bounced over the outfield fence for ground-rule doubles.

"I wanted a triple on both of them, but it happens," Aehlert said.