LAKE FOREST, Ill.– Nine games into the season, the Lake Forest Scouts varsity baseball team has noticed a constant trend: The offense hasn’t been producing. Tuesday night, the Scouts took on the Libertyville Wildcats on their home turf. Michael Vallone, one of Lake Forest’s best arms, was given the start against a team that is hitting over .300 at the plate as a team on the young season. Right away, the Wildcats pounced on the Scouts, while the home team’s offense had no answer.

In the blink of an eye, Libertyville had the bases loaded with no outs in the first. Vallone, however, kept his composure and managed to strike out the next two batters. Vallone’s comeback effort fell short when Micah Holzworth hit a two run single to right field. Things only got worse from there.

By the time the third inning was completed, Libertyville starting pitcher Riley Gowens struck out nine batters. That’s right. Every Scout that made a plate appearance was sent back to the dugout on strikes. The Wildcats were now up by 3 thanks to a triple by Luke Plunkett.

In the fifth inning, Libertyville put the game out of reach. Tim Jean picked up an RBI after getting plunked with the bases loaded, then Plunkett hit a sacrifice fly to deep left field allowing Ben Arnold to score. Libertyville tacked on two more runs before the game went final, but the real story of the game wasn’t their offense, it was the dominance of Riley Gowens.

Of the 22 players that the Scouts sent to the plate, Gowens struck out 16. In the bottom of the seventh with two outs, Gowens was a strike away from notching a no-hitter, but Griffin Strang broke that up with a line drive single to right field. Regardless, this was one of the most dominant performances by a pitcher in conference play this season. With another scoreless outing Tuesday night, Gowens has not allowed a run in the 23.2 innings he’s thrown this year. Although his stats speak wonders of his dominance, it was no excuse for Lake Forest to strike out 16 times.

The Scouts as a whole are now batting .150, well below what they were hitting last year at .302. This has been a very common trend in their last three games. When you combine the 21 innings they’ve played over the course of this past week, they have only had two runners cross the plate. They won’t win any games until their offense begins to make some improvements. Defense has also been a concern the past two games. Pitching struggles, including walks, and costly errors have allowed opposing teams to put games out of reach before halfway through the contest. Simply put, adjustments need to be made. The offense needs to be smarter at the plate and can’t rely on the defense as much as they are currently, and the amount of walks and errors per game needs to be limited. Lake Forest hopes to bounce back tomorrow evening against Warren at home, a team Peter Turelli no-hit a week ago. Stay tuned to The Forest Scout for the Lake Forest Scouts Varsity baseball teams latest news and recaps.