With rain in the forecast, the Scouts looked to get back on track against the Lake Zurich Bears. The Scouts made the 40-minute drive to Lake Zurich on Tuesday afternoon after dropping the first game of the two-game set the night prior.

Senior Zach Porter took the hill for the Scouts on Tuesday. The right-hander allowed a run in the first after a Lake Zurich double and then an infield single. Porter continued to keep the Lake Zurich hitters on edge not allowing another hit over the next two innings.

The Scout bats came out hot early as junior Tristan Kerr doubled in the top of the second and senior Sammy Long singled in the third. Despite putting runners in scoring position, the Scouts were unable to push any runs across.

“Sammy bleeds blue and gold and his timely hits kept us in the games and extended our lead,” said coach Mike Nilles. “And to think, he got those hits without a $75 elbow guard (usually $50 but the price was increased due to inflation).”

All would change though as junior Leo Anderson singled in the top of the fourth and senior Ian Dillow drove him in on a bloop single. The Scouts continued the two-out rally courtesy of singles from freshman Tommie Aberle and Sammy Long giving the Scouts a 3-1 lead halfway through the game.

The Bears, however, cut the lead in half on a double off the wall but Porter managed to escape the inning giving up only one run.

As the rain came down, the Scouts’ bats stayed hot as junior Cade Nowik singled and advanced after two walks. He would score later in the inning on a wild pitch giving the Scouts a 4-2 lead. Sammy Long drew a walk in the top of the fifth and sophomore Gianni Royer sent a fly ball to the left-center field which scored the senior.

After a hit-by-pitch and a walk, head coach Ray DelFava made the call to the bullpen and brought in senior Ryan Cassidy. Porter finished his night after five-plus innings allowing four runs and striking out three.

“I gotta give full credit to my defense,” said Porter. We had multiple double plays to get out of innings and not to mention Rocco throwing two guys out on the bases. They really made my job easy.”

Cassidy walked a couple of batters to begin his outing but was able to settle down and managed to escape the inning only allowing two runs giving the Scouts a 5-4 lead going into the seventh.

Anderson sent a leadoff double into left to begin the seventh but the Scouts were unable to push across another run.

The seventh inning started with a bloop single over junior Shep Graf’s head at shortstop. Cassidy kept throwing strikes, however, striking out the next two batters he faced but a walk and a single would allow the Bears to tie it up.

The rain continued to come down and the game went into extras. After going down 0-2 to begin the top of the eighth, Aberle sent a ground ball up the middle giving the Scouts a much-needed baserunner in extra innings. Senior Sammy Long continued to stay hot at the plate, sending a line drive into the right that skipped past the right fielder and scored the freshman. Senior Rocco Royer hit a grounder to the left side that the Bears’ shortstop was not able to handle which gave the Scouts runners on the corners with no outs in the inning.

The Lake Zurich coaches came out to the mound and asked the umpires to take a look at the mound and after a five-minute period of the umpires and home coaches looking at the mound, they deemed the field unplayable. The game would have to be resumed on Thursday picking up with the exact same situation as it was left.

“I was proud of the way we bounced back and took the lead in the top of the eighth before the game was postponed,” said DelFava. “The players did a great job of carrying the momentum from Tuesday’s game into Thursday and would not be denied.”

On Thursday afternoon, the Scouts had to come back with a short memory and forget about the 15-5 loss to Loyola the night before. They would get a huge lift from Nowik on an 0-1 pitch as Nowik sent a deep flyball over the leftfield fence giving the Scouts a 9-5 lead and putting the game almost certainly out of reach.

“After the game, we all felt like we had a chip on our shoulder,” said Nowik. “I knew I had the team at my back and everything just kind of fell into place. It was a great feeling watching the ball leave the yard and head to my teammates as well.”

Aberle came in to pitch in the bottom of the eighth and after getting two quick outs, the freshman ran into a little bit of trouble. A couple of walks had the tying run on deck but on a 2-2 pitch, Aberle forced a flyout to center field to give the Scouts the win. With this win, the Scouts moved to 6-6 in conference and 9-12-2 on the year.

The Scouts followed the win against Lake Zurich with a win over Deerfield 4-3.

On Monday, the Scouts finished off conference play against the Mundelein Mustangs in Mundelein.