On Tuesday night the Scouts had one of their best performances of the season when they defeated the Lake Zurich Bears 11-0 thanks to a stellar offense and some incredible pitching by Peter Turelli. That victory gave the Scouts an enormous amount of momentum heading into their final game of the three game set vs. their westernmost NSC rival, the Lake Zurich Bears. Early on Wednesday night, the Scouts got down early by five runs and the chances of a victory did not seem great, but Lake Forest never gave up. It only took the Scouts only one inning to go from disappointment to elation.

The Scouts wasted absolutely no time getting on the board early. In the top of the first inning, leadoff hitter Caleb Durbin hit a bullet into center field resulting in a single and later was able to advance to second base off of an error. With one out and a man on second, Charlie Reinkemeyer singled on a line drive to right field, which allowed Durbin to score from second. The Scouts–like they have been recently–scored in the top half of the inning, but this time couldn’t prevent their opponents from answering.

After Scouts starting pitcher Drew Golde struck out the first Lake Zurich batter of the game, Dylan Niedzwiecki singled to center field. Five pitches later the Bears got on the board. Tyler Snep blasted a two run dinger over the center field fence which was Lake Zurich’s first of the series. Neither team would have much action in the second inning, but come the third inning LZ expanded their lead.

In the third inning, the leadoff batter hit a triple to left field followed by a groundout which advanced the base runner to third. Already the Scouts found themselves in a jam. One out later, Dylan Niedzwiecki hit a ground ball back to Drew Golde who threw it to home attempting to prevent Lake Zurich from scoring another run, but they were too late. The runner slid safely into home and the Scouts didn’t even get an out from the play. The Lake Zurich Bears lead was now two and they wouldn’t stop scoring.

Still, the Scouts had their toughest inning in the fifth. With one out in the inning, things fell apart. Michael Chialdikas got on with a walk which was followed by a single from Austin Matuszewski. With two runners on, Dylan Niedzwiecki had the biggest hit of the inning, which was a bases-clearing triple to right field. Tyler Snep would later easily pick up an RBI on a groundout, giving the Lake Zurich Bears a commanding five run lead. At that point Lake Zurich looked as if they had the game in the bag. The Scouts could have just given up, but they didn’t give in. Let me remind you that this is baseball and anything can happen. The Scouts wouldn’t go home without a fight.

In the top of the sixth inning, a Drew Golde single was followed by a Charlie Reinkemeyer strikeout. With one man on and one man out, the Scouts needed a big time hit, and who better to deliver it than their most recent stud, Paul Turelli. He hit a three run homer in Tuesday’s game–which forced the Bears into submission by way of a ten run slaughter rule lead–and he was looking to agonize Lake Zurich even more. On a 2-1 count Paul Turelli sent a bomb out to deep left field that easily cleared the fence, effectively cutting the Lake Zurich lead to three. Not only did Turelli’s hit give the Scouts a boost of momentum, but it also frazzled the other team. In the next at bat Brad Czerniejewski hit a pop fly to second baseman Austin Krause. What seemed to be a routine fly ball was dropped by Krause, allowing Czerniejewski to reach first base. Now the Scouts were really cooking. After Ben Cornelius walked Jason Cast, Andrew Athenson delivered a clutch hit. He hit a grounder to left field allowing Czerniejewski to score, cutting the lead now to just two runs. All of a sudden the Scouts were right back in the game and would not stop producing at the plate. Next up for Lake Forest was Andrew Gough. The new Lake Zurich pitcher, Justin Ims, just gave up an RBI single and was determined not to give up another, but as we all know, this Scouts lineup is tough. Gough singled to center field scoring not one but two runs, which tied the game at six.

With all this momentum the Scouts were looking to get on top and stay there for good. Right after Gough’s crucial single, Johnny Salm hit a deep fly ball to left field that got down before Tyler Snep could get to it. Salm rushed into second with a double while Andrew Gough touched them all scoring the run that would give the Scouts the 7-6 lead. Six runs, one inning, and all of a sudden the Scouts were on top and in the driver’s seat.

Collin McDonnell shut down Lake Zurich’s chances at a comeback in the sixth while Paul Turelli registered the save in the seventh inning when he pitched a perfect inning. The Lake Forest Scouts successfully came all the way back from down five runs in the sixth inning alone, eventually resulting in a pivotal series win against the Bears. These two wins (Tuesday and Wednesday) were exactly what the Scouts needed to get back on the right track. They showed themselves that not only do the have the power to dominate teams, but that they can also come back when down a few or more runs. This may just indeed be the turning point for the Scouts.

Next up for Lake Forest will be Niles Notre Dame. Unlike most of the Scouts games thus far, it will not be part of a series. In fact, Thursday is the only scheduled game against the Dons. So far Notre Dame is (5-6) and are members of the East Suburban Catholic Conference, one of the best baseball leagues in the state, which makes this non-conference matchup intriguing. The Scouts will look to keep the momentum going Thursday against the Dons at West Campus with game time at 4:30.