Baseball: Rough start costs McPherson, Cadets in sectional loss to Lake Park

BARTLETT – Anthony DeConcilis heard Marmion starting pitcher Brandon McPherson flashed a lot of velocity on his pitches.

Murmurs in the Lake Park stands indicated McPherson, who is still deciding his collegiate destination, could approach 90 miles per hour if he wanted to.

The Lake Park slugger had never faced McPherson before, and the Lancers' scouting report on the hard- throwing right-hander was pretty specific: McPherson likes to throw his slider when he is down in the count.

Three pitches into Thursday's sectional semifinal, DeConcilis launched a solo homer into left center with the wind blowing out.

The pitch was a slider, out and over the plate, right on cue.

"We responded so well," said DeConcilis, who was 3-for-4 with two doubles. "We were ready for this all week...we knew when he was down in the count, he's gonna [go] to his off-speed pitches."

It was the first leadoff homer McPherson allowed all season.

"It's baseball. Nothing fell our way today," said McPherson, who struck out five in a complete-game effort. "It's just gonna happen, unfortunately. That's why in college, I like series, but you only get one in high school."

McPherson responded by striking out Rory Marino, but Zach Aehlert then followed suit with his own solo shot en route to a 6-2 victory over the Cadets.

Aehlert, who also hit an RBI single in the third, now owns the program single-season record for home runs in a season (11) and RBI (45).

Lake Park (16-12) will face Willowbrook, who won on a stunning walk-off homer against Glenbard East 6-5, in the sectional final at 11 a.m. Saturday.

Prior to the game, McPherson told the Marmion coaching staff of some arm soreness, but he doesn't "like making excuses for the outcome of the game; that's a good hitting team."

Lake Park pitcher Jay Palmer, who tied the program record for strikeouts in one game with 16 in the regional semifinal against Geneva, did his part Thursday. He struck out 10 over six innings, allowing two runs.

Palmer (8-3) had little problem settling into a groove, striking out two in the first, the side in the second, and two in the fourth and fifth innings. Lake Park relief pitcher Ryan Behling worked a relatively clean seventh inning for the save.

Palmer's scouting report on the Cadets: Outside pitches, inside breaking balls and coaxing them into popouts.

"We knew it was probably going to be a low scoring game if [McPherson] was on his game," Lake Park coach Dan Colucci said. "You always want to be the team to score first, but to come up and get two runs up in the first I thought gave our guys a lot of confidence."

The Cadets (16-17) cracked the scoreboard on Jake Carlson's solo homer in the fourth, but they were unable to get the timely hit to sustain a serious comeback.

In the fifth, DeConcilis legged out an infield single and advanced to second on an errant throw. Marino followed with a single after Marmion third baseman Nick Talarico hesitated on the throw to first. Aehlert intentionally walked to load the basis for Paul Beverly.

Beverly took advantage, smoking a two-run single to break the game open 5-1.

Marmion catcher Chase Stanke hit a solo homer in the sixth, but Lake Park's A.J. Dallmann responded with a solo shot of his own to round out the scoring.

"We worked counts very well for the most part," Marmion coach Frank Chapman said. "We had [Palmer] over 80 pitches in four innings. We just didn't get the hit. We just couldn't string things along. That was the big thing. So, you have to tip your cap to him."