LAKE ZURICH, Ill. — Monday night, the Lake Forest Scouts varsity baseball team had a crack at defeating one of the most talented teams in the North Suburban Conference. Things were all knotted up against the Lake Zurich Bears entering the 7th, but a series of mistakes ended up costing the Scouts the game. Tuesday night, however, the Scouts traveled to Lake Zurich to take on the team that they came so close to beating the night before. The game looked eerily similar to the first game of the series, that is until Lake Forest’s bats exploded in 6th inning putting the game well out of reach.
Caleb Durbin, who’s batting average continues to climb, led off the inning with a single, then stole second and made it to third on an error. With two outs in the top of the 1st, Andrew Gough sent a hard grounder to Lake Zurich shortstop Michael Chialdikas, who muffed the ball and was unable to recover in time, allowing Durbin to score and Gough to reach safely. The Bears had no answer in the bottom half of the inning as the game quickly turned into a pitchers’ duel.
The pitching dominance of sophomore Breck Nowik was a huge story in a game that stayed tight until the late stages. Nowik was perfect in the first three innings, then continued a no-hitter up until the 6th inning. The only time that he found himself in some trouble was in the 4th, when he gave up back to back walks, but a pick-off play at second would prevent any further damage. Still, with only a run separating the two teams, Lake Forest ran away with the game in the top of the 6th.
Just like when they scored their lone run in the first, Caleb Durbin led off the inning with a hit to right field that resulted in a double. After Will Davis took a walk, Drew Golde drilled a single to right scoring Durbin, then advanced to second on a throwing error. The line kept moving. Next it was Andrew Gough who had an RBI single, then Golde came home on a wild pitch, and to top things off, Nowik helped his own cause by scoring Gough on a single to right. Just like that it was 5-0 Lake Forest, and they didn’t look back.
The Scouts would later tack on one more run in the top of the seventh when Michael Chialdikas committed his second error of the night on a Drew Golde ground ball. Caleb Durbin, who was at third, coasted home to extend the lead. In the bottom of the seventh, Breck Nowik recorded his 11th strike out of the night, then Brady Christoph came in to finish the job in a Lake Forest shutout victory over one of the best teams in the conference.
Overall, this was the Scouts’ best game of the season thus far. Not once has the defense been as good as it was and the offensive production additionally turned in an effort above their season average. Lake Forest did not have a single error Tuesday evening and Breck Nowik only allowed one hit and two walks. On offense, Caleb Durbin and Andrew Gough led the way with three hits each and four runs combined. The only major concern coming out of the second game of the series was, again, the amount of times the Scouts struck out. As a team, they were sent back to the dugout on strikes 15 times. However, when they got base runners on–especially in the 6th–they took advantage of it. The series finale will be at West Campus tomorrow at 4:30. Be sure to come support the Scouts as they look to carry over their momentum from Tuesday’s monstrous win into their final meeting of the year against the Lake Zurich Bears.
