After winning their series against Lake Zurich, it is safe to say that the Lake Forest Scouts varsity baseball team is beginning to turn things around in the right direction. Coming off back-to-back wins, Lake Forest looked to extend their streak to three over a solid Prospect team. Collin Lochiatto was given the nod as starting pitcher and led the charge in what turned out to be a game with little offense and a lot of defense. The game stayed tight for all seven innings, but in the end, it was the Scouts who ended up celebrating.
In the first two innings, both offenses were practically mute; especially Lake Forest’s. Luke Kyprianidis didn’t allow a hit until the fourth, but a series of mistakes in the inning prior put the Prospect Knights down early. On a 2-2 count, Michael Vallone hit a sharp ground ball to third basemen Kevin Donahue, who coughed up the ball. After stealing second, Vallone advanced to third on a ground out. Then, Caleb Durbin picked up the games first RBI on a sacrifice fly to right field. Still without a hit in the game, the Scouts were on the board.
With the Scouts offense struggling to find a rhythm, Lochiatto was dominating on the hill and the defense behind him was borderline perfect. In the third, Lochiatto worked around a one-out double retiring the next two batters. Then in the top of the 4th, he picked off a runner at first, which was pivotal with only one out and a man at third. Lake Forest’s offense finally came alive in the 5th, giving Lochiatto and the defense some padding.
After Peter Turelli led the inning off with a walk, then stole second, Michael Vallone delivered one of the biggest hits of the game. On a full count, Vallone ripped the ball to left field, allowing Turelli to come all the way around and score. The Scouts didn’t stop there. After Griffin Strang dropped a sacrifice bunt, Matthew Hill flew out to center deep enough for Vallone ot score. Now up by three, the Lake Forest defense carried them to the finish line.
In the top of the 6th, Colin McDonnell came in for relief on the bump. He retired all three batters that came to the plate in the inning, then got the first out in the top of the seventh. Prospect was able to get two runners on before Brady Christoph came in to close the game, but the Knights couldn’t do anything to try and extend the game. Christoph sent the first batter he faced back to the dugout on strikes, then finished the job on a ground ball to Caleb Durbin. The Scouts shutout Prospect 3-0 and extended their win streak to three.
Over the course of this three game win streak, the real story has been the Scouts defense. In the 21 innings played, they have only allowed two runs and have committed no errors. The teams situational hitting has also been better. Sacrifice bunts, and fly outs along with being smart on the basepaths have helped the team make the most out of every scoring opportunity. The Lake Forest Scouts varsity baseball team has a chance to extend their win streak to four against the Zion Benton Zee-Bees, who rank last in the conference and will return home this Tuesday against the same team.
