By Sean Duncan

MUNDELEIN - Hard to believe, but preseason prognostications don?t always pan out the way we expect. Case in point: Mundelein and Lake Zurich, who squared off this week in a key North Suburban Lake two-game series.

In our 2011 preseason magazine, we ranked Lake Zurich No. 13 in the state, and predicted Mundelein to finish fourth in the extremely tough North Suburban Lake.

Well, after No. 6 Mundelein effectively pummeled Lake Zurich 10-0 in six innings on Wednesday, which kept the Mustangs (10-0, 2-0) undefeated and dropped Lake Zurich to 2-6, we can say that, umm, we were wrong. Dead wrong. In the two-game series, Mundelein outscored the Bears by a 19-1 margin and pounded out 28 hits.

Aside from Mundelein?s impressive offensive outburst, left-hander Dante Martinez, a 5-foot-10, 166-pound unsigned senior, was once again spectacular for the Mustangs. Martinez (3-0) had Lake Zurich off-balance all game with a fastball, curve, slurve, changeup mix ? all of which he threw in any count, and all for strikes. Martinez, who earlier in the season carved up No. 17 Harrisburg on the team?s Southern Illinois trip, allowed only two hits ? both in the third inning ? in his six-inning, complete-game gem. Martinez struck out eight, walked one and hit one batter behind precise 66-71 mph curve-slurve combo, and a sneaky-fast 79-81-mph fastball on a cold, windy day.

?I felt really good today,? said Martinez. ?Everything was working for me. Lake Zurich is a great team ? they were predicted to win the conference ? so this is really big for us. ? Our bats have been really impressive. It makes it so much easier to pitch. It?s comforting as a pitcher to know that our offense is going to score runs.?

The Mustangs? offense provided plenty in the first inning, when it jumped on Evansville-bound right-hander Parker Asmann with six runs on six hits. No. 2 hitter, junior shortstop Chris Maranto, set the tone with an opposite-field home run to right field, and Mundelein?s offense churned out five more hits in the first inning as it sent 11 batters to the plate. Lake Zurich?s defense didn?t help, either: The Bears committed two errors in the inning and had a misplayed ball in the outfield.

In all, Mundelein pounded out 14 hits. Senior catcher John DeVito had a misplayed triple in the first inning and finished with two hits and two RBI. D.J. Lewis, Luis Carrasco and Charlie Gandolfi each had two hits apiece, and junior Jordan Wiegold delivered a pinch-hit two-run double in the sixth to employ the mercy rule.

Of Mundelein?s 10 victories so far, four of them have been against preseason ranked opponents (Lake Zurich twice, Harrisburg and Westminster Christian.

 (Editor?s Note: To our defense, we still had Mundelein ranked No. 41 to start the season.)

 (Fan?s Note: Yeah, whatever.)

 ?It?s a good start of the season,? said Mundelein coach Todd Parola, ?but that?s all it is ? a start. We still have a lot of work to do.?