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The Forest Scout

The Student News Site of Lake Forest High School

The Forest Scout

The Student News Site of Lake Forest High School

The Forest Scout

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Scouts Valiant Comeback Falls Short at Notre Dame

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Coming into Thursday’s contest against the Notre Dame Dons, the Scouts record was (6-11). The Scouts had won their past two games against Lake Zurich–both in epic fashion–one being a blowout and the other being a six run comeback. Thursday night the Scouts looked to improve their winning streak to three by knocking off a very talented Dons team. The Scouts kept the game under control early, but fell apart on defense in the fifth, resulting in a massive 8-run inning for Notre Dame that would be the difference maker in a heartbreaking defeat.

Unlike the past two games, the scoring did not start until the second inning. After the Dons starting pitcher shutout the Scouts in the top of the second, Notre Dame got to business. With one out in the inning, Aidan French reached first with a single to left, which then was followed with a walk that had Ty Galvin reaching first as well. Niles Notre Dame was in a groove that they would not get out of before scoring. The next batter, Jackson Kaplowitz, singled to right scoring Aidan French. Now with a man on third, it only took a ball in play to score Ty Galvin from third. Matthew Doherty got the job done on a groundout expanding the Dons’ lead to two runs. Notre Dame and Lake Forest would exchange shutout innings until the fifth inning came around, where a combined ten runs were scored.

The Scouts were looking for yet another late inning comeback in the fifth. The inning began with a single from Brad Czerniejewski, followed by Griffin Strang’s first hit of many to come in the 2017 season. After Paul Turelli got on with a walk to load the bases, Czerniejewski scored on a wild pitch. Then, pinch runner Parker Messner came home to tie the game when Ryan Lee hit a sacrifice fly. Notre Dame however had an answer, though, that Lake Forest had not seen all year.

On the first pitch of the bottom of the fifth, Matthew Doherty went deep over the right field wall into the backyard of a neighboring Niles resident, suddenly giving his team the lead back. Following the home run was a single, then a one out double stroked by Kevin Garcia scoring Paul Bergstrom, extending the Dons lead to two runs. The brutal fifth inning continued when Frank Giamarusti hit a sacrifice fly scoring Jeff Richards from third. After back-to-back walks, Notre Dame scored again on an error by the Jonathan Salm, expanding the lead to five. The Dons refused to end the inning. Matthew Doherty picked up his second and third RBIs of the inning on an infield single stretching the lead to seven. Then, to top off the wild inning, he scored on another infield error by the Scouts. By the end of the inning Notre Dame had ten runs, eight of which came in that inning alone. If the Scouts found a way to climb back into this contest, it would be the comeback of the year.

Even though the Scouts trailed by eight runs in the seventh inning, they refused to give in, showing great toughness and resolve. The Dons’ pitcher, Colin French, walked the first two batters of the inning which was followed by a one out single from Johnny Salm, effectively cutting the lead to seven. French would throw yet another walk, presenting the Scouts with another chance to score, but came back strong, striking out Drew Golde on a questionable call. With two outs and the bases loaded, the game suddenly changed. Jason Cast got the Scouts back into the contest with a grand slam. The moonshot cut the  Notre Dame lead to three runs. The Scouts chances of an improbable comeback were written off when French got one of the Scouts’ hottest batters, Paul Turelli, to fly out to end the game. Once again the Scouts refused to give up, but this time their late comeback fell a little short.

The Scouts once again showed resilience late in the game not giving up until the final strike, but in the end it was the 8 run fifth inning that was the difference. Lake Forest ended up using a total of four pitchers in the contest–including regular infield starter Charlie Reinkemeyer–who doesn’t normally pitch. Inexperience may have came in as a factor in the fifth inning, but the Scouts also gave up three costly errors in the contest, some of which resulted in some runs. It was no secret that Lake Forest’s defense struggled Thursday night and in order to win some more games this weekend, the defense needs to improve.

Lake Forest will play Warren tonight at West Campus, then will take the field against Prospect this Saturday at 11:00 at West Campus. Warren is currently (5-3) and third in the NSC. A win against the Blue Devils is pivotal if the Scouts want to get to the top of the North Suburban conference. Come support your Lake Forest Scouts this weekend as they look to regather after their loss to Niles Notre Dame.

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About the Contributor
Joe Thomas, Author
Joe Thomas is a staff writer for The Forest Scout who has a burning passion for sports. He covers high school football, hockey and baseball along with the MLB and college basketball. He constantly dreams of being a writer for a professional sports organization when he is older. You can find the majority of his work in the In Between The Lines section.
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