Baseball: Libertyville storms back, beats Lake Zurich

Trailing 5-2 after three innings, visiting Libertyville was definitely struggling in its North Suburban Conference game at Lake Zurich under some cold playing conditions Tuesday afternoon.

But with two runs in the top of the fourth, and then a whopping seven runs in the top of the fifth, the Wildcats were ultimately able to roll to a 13-7 NSC victory in the high-scoring contest.

Libertyville (11-8-2, 6-2) remained in a logjam of teams at the top of the NSC standings while the Bears' young squad fell to 9-6 overall and 4-3 in the NSC.

The Wildcats got on the scoreboard first when No. 3 hitter Quinn Schambow hit a 2-run homer to center field off Lake Zurich starting pitcher Jackson Piggott.

But that lead was short-lived as Lake Zurich responded with four runs on three hits off Libertyville starter Josh Holst. The first of two doubles in the contest by Ryan Kondrad helped get the Bears' offense going.

Lucas Foley (double in fifth) had a single during the rally while RBIs by A.J. Foley, George DiCanio, and Piggott along with a wild pitch staked Lake Zurich to a 4-2 lead. Then Jonathan Fleaka doubled and wound up scoring on a balk in the bottom of the third for a 5-2 lead.

But Libertyville bounced right back in the top of the fourth when Benjamin Hutchings doubled home Tyler DeFranco before an RBI double by Schambow cut the lead to 5-4.

The top of the fifth was the game-changer as the Wildcats sent 12 batters to the plate after Piggott had retired the first two batters of the inning.

Two walks, an RBI single by Drake Johnson, a hit batsman, and an RBI single by Cole Lockwood ultimately forced Piggott out of the game as Zac Parsons came on in relief. But Libertyville kept attacking as Jack Land got an RBI single before an error on a fly ball to right field by Schambow scored two more runs. Then an RBI single by Graham Goodman drove in Schambow for a commanding 11-5 lead.

"It's one of those things where when something goes wrong we don't let one run sprout into two or three so it's a good learning experience for us now," said Lake Zurich coach Scott DeCaprio, whose team was outhit 10-7. "It's a young team with only three seniors, and there are moments where you're going to see some inexperience come in."

The Wildcats added two insurance runs in the sixth on RBIs by Lockwood and Land. Kondrad added a two-run double in the seventh to account for the final score.

Holst went 4 innings on the mound before teammate Justin Benes pitched the fifth inning to pick up the win. Sophomore Anthony Fry looked sharp on the mound for Libertyville in the sixth while teammate Casey Wells closed out the game in the seventh.

"We just talked to our kids about trying to put the ball in play and hustling," said Libertyville coach Matt Thompson. "We had some timely hitting by Drake Johnson, and it's nice to be able to put up a big inning like that."