By Drake Skleba

As in 2011, Mother Nature once again has made her presence felt at the 2012 IHSBCA/Lawler Summer Classic. Tuesday morning’s powerful storms wreaked havoc on the tournament schedule by washing out all of Tuesdays’ second-round games.

On Wednesday, at North Central College in Naperville at 10, Lyons Township (29-4-1) will meet Maine South (17-7) in a winner’s-bracket game. The winner will advance to Thursday’s 12:30 p.m. semifinal at Benedictine University in Lisle.

At 12:30 at North Central, the loser of the LT-MS game will meet Joliet Catholic (18-3) in a battle for the No. 2 seed in the bracket and a spot in Thursday’s first semifinal at 10 at Benedictine.

At Benedictine on Wednesday at 10 a.m., St. Laurence (18-2) will meet the Cinderella of the tourney, Montini (17-10-3) in a winner’s-bracket game. The winner will advance to the first semifinal at Benedictine on Thursday at 10. At 12:30, Jacobs (25-3-1) will play the loser of the St. Laurence-Montini game for the No. 2 seed in the bracket and a spot in the 12:30 p.m.semifinal on Thursday at Benedictine.

Thursday morning’s winners will come back to Benedictine University at 7 and play for the 2012 IHSBCA/Phil Lawler Summer State Championship. The champion will be awarded the Phil Lawler Memorial State Championship Trophy.

At www.prepbaseballreport.highschoolcube.com all the remaining games will be streamed LIVE. Yours truly will be doing the play-by-play for Wednesday’s games at North Central. The CUBE’s Joe Brand will have the call on the doubleheader at Benedictine. I will be providing the call on the semifinals and the championship game on Thursday night.

Go to www.illinoishighschoolbaseball.org for all brackets, schedules and results. Click on the Summer League TAB.