4A Libertyville Regional: Trio of Wildcat arms shut down Lake Zurich bats

LIBERTYVILLE, Ill. – The No. 3 seed in the Saint Viator Sectional, Libertyville, got off to a lightning quick start to their postseason with a 6-1 victory over Lake Zurich on Wednesday afternoon. The Wildcats are serving as hosts of their Regional, so they enjoyed opening their playoffs in an enthusiastic environment. They used a trio of talented arms that got them an out away from a combined no-hitter, but still locked down the win in overwhelming fashion.

Libertyville’s senior righty and ace Riley Gowens started this one for the Wildcats and pitched the first three shutout innings. He walked one and hit a batter but still faced the minimum in his three innings of work. He only became more and more comfortable as the game went on and his lead expanded. In the third, his final inning, Gowens struck out the side in order, pounding the strike zone.

Gowens settled in as Libertyville pulled away.

In the Wildcats’ first turn at the plate against Lake Zurich’s lefty starter Ben Cornelius, Griffin Murphy stepped into the box from the two-hole with one away. On the seventh pitch of his hard-fought at-bat, and with a full count, the left-handed Murphy slugged a homer way, way over the right field fence that actually carried itself through a tree. That homer may as well have been dynamite because the Wildcats dugout exploded after that. Their high energy was palpable and gave Libertyville an extra edge in the early going.

Cornelius worked through a laborious first inning after the homer. After Tim Jean grounded out softly in the vicinity of Cornelius, the Wildcats peppered the infield with shallow grounders, one ruled an error and the next two just perfectly placed dribblers that were totally unplayable. That loaded the bases for Nick Angel who Cornelius struck out swinging to end the threat.

It felt like a huge victory to come away from that inning with just a one-run deficit, but Libertyville went right back at the Bears’ big lefty in the second.

Of course, Ben Arnold led the inning off with a bunt single followed by a Tanner Kelly infield single to second baseman Anthony Mangano that he simply beat out – those two singles gave Libertyville four infield base hits nine batters in. Cornelius got Tony Rigali to pop out to Mangano on a ball that seemed destined to drop in the middle of he and the first baseman, but Mangano made an athletic play to get the first out. Murphy stepped in again and worked a walk and Jean walked on four pitches to score a run, ending an unlucky outing for Cornelius. Sophomore lefty Noah DeLuga relieved Cornelius, inheriting the loaded bases with four-hitter Luke Plunkett at the plate. DeLuga got behind the senior catcher and Plunkett made him pay with a sharp single up the middle on a 3-1 fastball, scoring another run. Later, Andrew Kim ripped another sharp single through the middle of the infield, scoring two more and making it a 5-0 lead after two.

Libertyville scored their sixth and final run in the third on an RBI groundout from Murphy and turned it over to lefty reliever Daniel Richardson. The lefty’s funky delivery mystified Bears batters and in his three innings of work, he needed just 31 pitches to set down nine straight, striking out three along the way.

The Wildcats opted to hand the ball to Marco Scopacasa to get the final three outs with a combined no-hitter still in tact. In fact, despite a walk and hit batter from Gowens, Libertyville had entered the seventh having faced the minimum. Scopacasa tempted Mangano on the first pitch to pop out to Jean over at third base and he struck out Austin Krause in a tough at-bat. Lake Zurich’s best bat, Tyler Snep, wouldn’t let his team go down without a fight – or a hit. He mashed a solo homer over the right-center field fence to get Lake Zurich in both the hit and score columns for the first time all day. Josh Anderson flew out on a hard liner to center in the following at-bat, ending the game, putting a cap on a tough season for Lake Zurich.

In the other dugout, Libertyville celebrated its Regional semifinal victory loudly, but it was clear that they have more than a Regional championship berth on their mind.

The Wildcats will play the winner of tomorrow’s game between Stevenson and Fremd in Saturday’s Regional final at 11 a.m., back at Libertyville High School.

Statistical Highlights

• RHP Riley Gowens (Libertyville, 2018) – 3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 5 K, 1 BB, 1 HBP

• LHP Daniel Richardson (Libertyville, 2018) – 3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 3 K, 0 BB

• IF/OF Andrew Kim (Libertyville, 2019) – 2-for-4, 2 RBI

• 1B/UTL Griffin Murphy – 1-for-3, HR, 2 R, 2 RBI

• C Tyler Snep (Lake Zurich, 2019) – 1-for-2, HR, RBI

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