Baseball: Libertyville repeats as NSC champs
Luke Plunkett was 4-for-5 with a homer, double and 7 RBI, and Libertyville's baseball team clinched the North Suburban Conference championship for the second year in a row with a 15-4 win over host Zion-Benton on Wednesday.
Libertyville (23-8, 17-3) also got a big game offensively from Ben Arnold, who was 3-for-4 with a triple and 4 RBI. Tim Jean had 3 hits, including a double, and knocked in a run. Griffin Murphy 2-for-4 with 2 doubles. Garrison Bennett, Andrew Kim and Ben Lopez doubled as well.
The Wildcats conclude NSC action by hosting Zion-Benton on Thursday.
Warren 9, Stevenson 4: Mikey Kocen went 3-for-4 with a double and 2 RBI, as the Blue Devils won the North Suburban contest.
Bradley Vondruska doubled, singled and drove in 2 runs for Warren, and Nate Rentas doubled as well. Riley Kocen earned the win, allowing 3 runs in 5 innings.
Evan Kiah was 3-for-4 with a double and 2 RBI for Stevenson, and Nick Bonk went 2-for-3 with an RBI.
Grant 12, Wauconda 3: Carlos Martinez was 2-for-3 with a double, sacrifice bunt and 3 RBI, and Grant overcame a 3-1 deficit after three innings to win the Northern Lake County Conference game.
Grant (18-9, 10-7) also got a single and 2 RBI from both Danny Laughery and Jimmy Friel (2 walks). Mason Sekulich earned the win, allowing no earned runs and striking out three in 4⅔ innings.
For Wauconda, Camden Janik was 3-for-4 with 2 doubles and 2 RBI.
Carmel 7, Nazareth 6 (9 inn.): The visiting Corsairs scored a pair of unearned runs in the top of the ninth to capture the East Suburban Catholic Conference game.
Austin Ehren went 2-for-5 with an RBI for Carmel (16-9, 10-6). Jake Adams and Jimmy Tarzon eacjh had a single and 2 RBI.
Deerfield 8, Vernon Hills 1: Tony Brown had a double for the Cougars in their Central Suburban League loss.
Lakes 4, Grayslake Central 2: The Eagles scored 3 runs in the bottom of the sixth to pull out the Northern Lake County game.
Matt Grubb went the distance on the mound for Lakes, striking out 10, walking three and allowing 4 hits. Andrew Gaetano was 2-for-3 for the Eagles.
Grayslake Central's Nate Twardock and Eric Sturm each had a single and an RBI.