L-W North's Summer Baseball State Title Quest Delayed by Lightning

Lincoln-Way North is accustomed to coming from behind to win baseball games in the Phil Lawler Summer Classic.

What the Phoenix have not had to do yet is come back the next day to finish off an opponent.

With Thursday's championship game in the Illinois High School Baseball Coaches Association's summer state tournament tied at 5-5 in the top of the seventh inning, Phoenix catcher Ryan Pellack singled. He would be stranded at first base—figuratively—for the next 1 hour and 42 minutes because of a lightning delay.

With the skies refusing to clear up, the game was postponed. It’s scheduled to be completed today at 2 p.m. at Benedictine University in Lisle.

Lincoln-Way North had taken a 5-3 lead in the top of the sixth inning. Jack Troike got the inning started with a single and moved to second base on an error. He reached third base when Prairie Ridge hurler George Frost tried to throw him out at third on Carter Bialka’s sacrifice bunt. Designated hitter Dominic Hartman gave the Phoenix a 4-3 lead with a sacrifice fly to center field. Bialka, who had moved to second base on the sacrifice fly, scored on a wild pitch and error as catcher Matt Krenz pounced on the wild pitch and fired to third to try to get Bialka but ended up throwing wildly down the left-field line.

Prairie Ridge finally got to Phoenix reliever Dan Moore in the bottom of the sixth. Moore had entered in the bottom of the third inning with the bases loaded and only one out. He induced Nick Bianchi to ground into 3-2-3 double play on a full count to get out of that jam. Moore would shut out the Wolves in the fourth and fifth innings, but ran into trouble in the sixth.

Bianchi redeemed himself by opening the inning with a double. Pinch hitter Mike Hallstrom walked, and the two runners scored on back-to-back RBI singles by Kyle Hodorowicz and Jordan Getzelman.

The Phoenix jumped ahead to a 3-0 lead in the top of the second inning. Troike and Bialka walked to open the frame. Hartman delivered an RBI single to score Troike, and Bialka came all the way around to score on a wild throw from Getzelman in center field. Andy Ricker would later contribute an RBI single to complete the scoring in the inning.

The initial lightning delay began at 9:49 p.m. Approximately a half hour later, the teams briefly returned to the field to warm up, only to be told to leave the field because lightning was still in the area. An official announcement on the postponement was made at 11:31 p.m.

Lincoln-Way North’s Josh Reid relieved Moore with two outs in the bottom of the sixth and was able to get a routine ground out to keep the game tied. Frost lasted into the sixth inning for the Wolves before being replaced by Matt LeBeau.