Coming off one of their most humiliating losses of the season, the Lake Forest Scouts varsity baseball team looked to bounce back against a Warren team that Peter Turelli no-hit over a week ago. The Scouts offense, which has been practically mute that past three games, knew ahead of time that they needed to have better at-bats and scoring chances to have an opportunity at winning the season series. Turelli was given the start again in hopes that he would throw a similar gem to what he threw last week. Unfortunately, things didn’t go as planned, and although Lake Forest did look better at the plate, it was no match for what Warren brought to the table.
Almost immediately, it was easy to tell that Warren had a different approach at the plate against Turelli. With one out in the top of the first, the Blue Devils hit three straight singles. Evan Hill picked up the game’s first RBI on a line drive to centerfield allowing Mikey Kocen to score from second. Later in the inning, after a groundout advanced the runners to second and third, Sam Deluca managed to steal home, giving Warren a two-run advantage in the first. The Scouts, however, didn’t take long to answer.
Scoring runs, especially in the early stages of the game, has been difficult for Lake Forest all season. This time, instead of letting their opponent run away with the game, the Scouts became more aggressive at the plate and made things interesting. Drew Golde was the first player to reach with a single to right, then advanced to second after Colton Pfeifer walked. With a runner in scoring position, Andrew Gough drilled an RBI single to center allowing Golde to score cutting the Blue Devil lead in half. With the Scouts knocking on the door, it was important to keep Warren close, but a series of mistakes in the second resulted in another setback for Lake Forest.
It didn’t take long for Warren to get their two run lead back. On the second pitch of the second, Nate Rentas hit a line drive double to right field, then without any help from the rest of the offense, Rentas was able to advance to third on a wild pitch, then easily got home on a ball that got passed the Scouts catcher. The game got even sloppier in the bottom of the third. Michael Vallone was hit by a pitch to start the inning, then made his way over to third after a groundout and a wild pitch, then got home on a drop third strike when Warren pitcher Reece Lawler threw the ball passed Sean Deluca. The Scouts were back within striking distance at the end of the third, but a rough start on defense in the fifth allowed the Blue Devils to pull away and put the game out of reach.
When Peter Turelli came out of the game in the fifth, Warren came out swinging against relief pitcher Breck Nowik. To start the inning, the Blue Devils had three straight doubles extending their lead to three. Then, later in the inning with the bases loaded, Nate Rentas was walked on five pitches. By the time the inning was over, Warren had put up a four spot and could taste a series victory.
Matt Langevin came in to close the game in the bottom of the seventh after Lawler gave up back to back walks. The Scouts couldn’t create any late comeback, ultimately resulting in their 8th loss of the season. The offense showed some improvement with three hits, two runs, and only six strikeouts, but there is still plenty of work for them to do. On a night where you would least expect it, pitching seemed to be the biggest issue. The Scouts allowed ten hits along with one error that resulted in a run. The Lake Forest Scouts varsity baseball team will take on the Stevenson Patriots this evening at 4:30 at varsity field. Stay tuned to the Forest Scouts for the latest on Scouts baseball.
