South Can Hit, Central Progressing

It's becoming more clear as time goes on: Don't mess with the .

It's not quite like bothering with Mother Nature, but it's close.

A week ago, the FVC schedule opened for baseball and upstart Grayslake North edged the Gators. But the second meeting of these clubs wasn't so close when the Gators whipped North 15-0.

So on Saturday, neighbors South (7-4 overall, 3-3 FVC) and (6-6, 2-3) got together for a pair of games. The first game of the twin bill had plenty of action. After three scoreless frames, Central put up three runs in both the fourth and fifth innings. It was 6-1 Tigers headed to the sixth.

And then South put a five-spot on the board. This game went to extra innings. In the top of the tenth, South scored twice to break the tie. Central matched that and added one more.

Final: CLC 10, CLS 9. There were 30 hits between the two teams.

There were plenty of hitting heroes in the opening game. For Central, junior Andy Gertonson had four hits and drove in three runs. Winning pitcher Nate Pollock scored three runs and drove in two more. Connor Skrypek added three more hits.

South catcher Dom Winiecki did his part with four hits and two RBIs. Nick Martin had a pair of doubles on the way to a three-hit day. Also helping the cause were Tyler Salm (three hits), Jeremy DeJesus (double) and Chris Morrison (double).

So what happened in game two? Of course South avenged that defeat. Robbie Lemke pitched five shutout innings as the Gators beat the Tigers 9-1.

"We have shown that we can hit the ball with some consistency as of late, especially in the Grayslake North and CL Central series,'' said Gators coach Brian Bogda.

South scored five runs in the first inning to set the tone in this win. Martin continued his hitting from game one with a double and single and two RBIs. Morrison had two more hits and two RBIs. Ryan Price added two hits. The sophomore Skyrpek had two more hits for Central. Ryan Mannix also had two hits.

"I appreciate the senior leadership that we have been getting lately,'' Bogda said.  "We have been getting a lot of different contributors in our games and that says a lot about this team’s character."

Central coach Dan Badgley saw some good things from his Tigers as well.

"We are playing hard and there has been progress,'' Badgley said. "The kids are starting to limit the amount of mistakes and are executing in big situations."

South's week continued with another split of two games with Cary-Grove. In the 7-6 win over Cary, Winiecki had three more hits. Brandon Seiser earned a save in relief and added a key double on offense. Salm had a two-hit game.

Lemke took the loss in the second meeting of these clubs. He surrendered just two earned runs in the 6-3 defeat. Chris Hauser had three hits.

The Tigers snatched another win on Monday. John Nemcek's single was key in a 3-2 win in eight innings over Richmond-Burton.

At PR: The Wolves are struggling as evidenced by a doubleheader sweep at the hands of the Grayslake Rams on Saturday. The Wolves did come back Tuesday and notched a FVC win with a 5-1 victory over Grayslake North.