No. 13 Stevenson squeezes, sweeps Libertyville

By Drake Skleba

LIBERTYVILLE - With the scored tied at 2-2, in the Stevenson half of the sixth and the bases juiced and one out, Patriot senior RF Brandon Waters came through. Stevenson head coach Paul Mazzuca gave his No. 9 hitter the suicide squeeze bunt sign. Waters laid down a perfect bunt at the Libertyville third baseman, allowing a streaking Patriot LF Ricky Kern to cross the plate with what would be the game-winning run.

?I was really nervous when I got the sign,?  said Waters. ?It felt great to get the bunt down.?

Waters? bunt ignited No. 13 Stevenson (5-0; 2-0) as the Patriots erupted for five
runs in the inning and added a pair in the seventh as Stevenson rolled past Libertyville 9-2.

Waters also doubled home a run in the seventh, his third RBI of the game, to help lead the Patriots to a North Suburban Conference Lake Division season-opening sweep of its rivals from Libertyvile (4-4; 0-2). On Tuesday, behind  senior RHP Isaac Greenspon, Stevenson defeated Libertyville 4-1 in Lincolnshire.

?I had a good day at the plate,? added Waters. ?It was great to double home the run in the seventh.?

The game through five innings was your typical Stevenson-Libertyville thriller. Starting pitchers senior Dalsen Ferbert and for Libertyville junior RHP Dar Townsend (1-2) were locked up in a battle.

Libertyville scored in the bottom of the first on an RBI single by senior DH Joey Eichmann to grab a 1-0 lead. Stevenson tied it up on a RBI ground-out by Waters.

Libertyville pulled the old walk-off play to perfection, stealing a run on A.J. Schurr?s steal of home in the Wildcat third.

Libertyville had a short-lived 2-1 lead when Kern went deep for Stevenson to tie things up at 2 leading off the Patriot fourth. It was the first round-tripper for Kern.

?I really hit the ball hard,? said Kern. ?I was really happy to get the game tied again after we gave them the lead.?

In the Libertyville fifth, the Wildcats put two on, with two out against Ferbert, who allowed one earned run in his 4 2/3 inning of work. Mazzuca brought in Villanova-bound RHP Tyler Radtke, who walked Schurr to load the bases. Radtke induced Eichmann, who had two hits for the Wildcats, to fly to Kern in left for the final out of the inning.

? Joey (Eichmann) is a great hitter and I jammed him inside and was fortunate to get him to fly out to left,? said Radtke.

The Patriots would add four more runs after Waters? bunt. Junior DH Jack Karras ripped a two-run double to open up a 5-2 Pat lead. Junior C Steve Galanopoulos (2-for-4) followed with an RBI single. Two critical Wildcat errors made all of the runs in the sixth unearned. The tough-luck loser Townsend (1-2) allowed only one earned run in his 5 2/3 innings of work.

? I struggled a little my first three times to the plate,? said Karras. ?I hit the ball well in my final at-bat. It felt good to double in the huge insurance runs.?

Radtke (1-0) picked up the win in relief with 2 ? shutout innings, striking out three.

?It was great to be back on the mound,? said Radtke. ?I pitched well but Dalsen (Ferbert) pitched well enough to get the win.?

? This was great to get a win here,? said Mazzuca. ?We have not fared too well here in the past. Dalsen Ferbert pitched great for us. Brandon Waters executed for us and had a great day at the plate. Ricky Kerns? homer was important for us and Jack Karras had a big double to give us a three-run lead. It was great to have Tyler Radtke back on the mound for us.?