Baseball: Lake Forest finds a way past Carmel
Lake Forest pitcher, Dan Bedore (19) during the first inning of Tuesday's game against Carmel. After seven innings, the score was tied, 5-5. | Brian O'Mahoney~for Sun-Times Media
Updated: April 10, 2012 11:09PM
The first six Lake Forest batters of the game reached base safely and, most importantly, the last Scout batter of the game did so as well, and it all added up to a 6-5 victory over powerful Carmel in eight innings on Tuesday.
The result ended Lake Forest’s (3-8) eight-game losing streak while Carmel is now 7-4.
The Scouts jumped on Carmel starter Quinten Sefcik for four first-inning runs and a 4-2 lead.
But then, Sefcik had a stretch in which he fanned nine of 15 batters as Carmel went ahead 5-4.
The Scouts tied it with a run off Duncan Amrein in the bottom of the sixth, and won it in a bizarre eighth in which there were two errors and no ball was hit in play.
Matt Lawrence led off the eighth getting hit by a pitch thrown by Matt Ryan.
Then, Ryan tried to pick Lawrence off first, but the last of several throws over there sailed down the right-field line.
Lawrence reached second and was trying for third when Carmel outfielder Matt Schaefer airmailed the ensuing throw over the third baseman’s head and out of play to end the game.
“It would have been a shame if we had lost this one, with all the opportunities we had,” said Lake Forest coach Ray Del Fava, who saw his team strand seven runners in scoring position and 12 overall.
“You look for that game that will turn things around. We found ways to lose during the eight-game losing streak. We kept telling them all we needed was one win to allow us to breathe again. It didn’t matter how we got it. It makes it even more special that it came against Carmel, which is always strong.”
Carmel led 2-0 early on Ryan’s two-run double.
But in the bottom of the first, two Lake Forest runs scored on errant pitches and the others were driven in by Hub Cirame and Brandon Moccia.
Carmel chipped away and took the lead at 5-4 with a two-run fourth.
That set the stage for Lake Forest’s comeback.
“We played sloppy ball. We didn’t get hits when we needed them,” said Carmel coach Joe May. “We didn’t put pressure on them. They put pressure on us.
“It was a well-earned win for them.”
Collin Christensen was the winning pitcher with four nice innings of relief.
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