Lake Forest Rallies To Upend Libertyville

May 17, 2016

By Sean Duncan
Executive Director

LIBERTYVILLE, IL – Lake Forest right-hander Cal Coughlin was coming off a near-perfect game in his last start, surrendering a two-out hit in the bottom of the seventh before he wrapped up his complete-game victory.

On Tuesday against North Suburban Lake rival Libertyville, things didn’t go as smoothly as his previous start. Coughlin surrendered five runs in the first two innings, with all indications it being a short outing. But Coughlin battled through the rough start, and progressively got stronger and stronger, providing enough time for the Lake Forest offense to come to life and rally for a 6-5 road victory.

The 6-foot-1, 200-pound Texas Christian recruit finished his gutty complete-game victory by inducing a groundout to 2018 SS Caleb Durbin with Libertyville runners on second and third. His final five fastballs of the game ranged between 90-92 mph. All told, Coughlin yielded nine hits, five runs, struck out five and walked four.

Clearly not close to his near-perfect-game performance against Warren last week, but enough for the Scouts to improve to 17-11, 8-4 in the North Suburban Lake.

Tied 5-5 heading into the top of the seventh, 2017 OF Brad Czerniejewski lined a one-out single to left field, and proceeded to swipe his third stolen base of the game. Then, with two outs and two-strikes, 2017 OF Jason Cast laced the game-winning single just over the shortstop’s head to give Lake Forest a 6-5 lead.

Cast, an athletic 5-foot-11, 175-pound centerfielder, also added three stolen bases, a run and a walk. Czerniejewski, who is also committed to Texas Christian, went 2-for-4 with two runs scored and three stolen bases. Czerniejewski also scored the game-tying run in the fifth inning when he beat out an infield single, stole second and third, and scored when the Libertyville catcher threw down to second on Cast’s stolen base; the throw glanced off the shortstop’s glove and the ball went into centerfield.

Durbin also had a strong game for the Scouts, finishing with a hit, a sacrifice fly and a stolen base while playing a rock-solid defensive shortstop, making seven spotless putouts.

The eventual outcome was surprising given the red-hot start by Libertyville (19-10-1, 8-4). Senior OF Brian Murphy (2-for-3, two runs, stolen base) led off the first inning with an opposite-field single on a 91-mph fastball, followed by 2018 SS Ryan Greenberg’s opposite-field single on a 90-mph fastball. Both runners scored, the second coming on 2017 C Jackson Peterson’s RBI single on a 92 mph fastball.

The Wildcats added three more runs in the second inning thanks to a pair of run-scoring singles by Daniel Marks (2-for-4, RBI) and Ben Kimpler. Libertyville also threatened in the third, getting runners on second and third with two outs before Coughlin got out of the jam with a strikeout.

After that, Libertyville didn’t get a runner on base until the seventh inning.