Baseball: Lake Park overwhelms Batavia

BATAVIA – Lake Park exploded for 12 runs in the top of the fourth inning to overwhelm Batavia 17-0 in DuKane Conference baseball action on Tuesday in a four-inning game.

The Lancers, already leading 5-0, sent 18 batters to the plate in the frame and scored the runs on eight hits, six walks and one Bulldog error.

The victory is Lake Park’s fourth win in row and the sixth time it has scored in double digits. Senior left-hander Dylan Bergman earned the win. Nate Nazos was tagged with the loss.

Batavia will be looking to avoid the sweep when the two squads wrap up their three-game series Wednesday in Roselle.

“Batavia is a great team and a great program so to come in and put up the runs that we did against a good quality pitcher like Nazos is a testament to our guys’ approach,” said Lake Park coach Dan Colucci.

Spencer Hoarle opened the top of the fourth with a bloop single to short right-center field off Nazos. Tommy Menchaca, batting for designated hitter Christian Deshazer, ended the frame by hitting a pitch from reliever Jaden Glisson into a fielder’s choice for the third out. Lancers catcher Gustavo Vivas had the only extra-base hit of the inning, a one-out double to left field.

Lake Park (8-1, 2-0) took the lead in the first inning. Leadoff batter Derek Ittner smacked Nazos’ second pitch over the left-field fence.

“The first pitch I saw was a fastball down the middle,” Ittner said. “I was trying to hunt for a fastball early, so I looked for it.”

The senior shortstop was 2-for-2 on the day, hitting a 2-run double to left in the second inning. Ittner drew two walks and scored both times in the pivotal fourth inning. The Lancers scored at least one run in the first three innings.

“We’re feeling good right now. Things are working out, balls are falling,” Colucci said. “It’s fun when you are playing good baseball and winning games.”

Bergman gave up hits to Batavia (3-9, 0-2) batters in all the innings he pitched.

“We had some base runners early. We got leadoff guys on in the first three innings, but we couldn’t do much with that today,” Batavia coach Alex Beckmann said.

Ryne Woods, Batavia’s leadoff batter, hit a single to right to open the bottom of the first but was picked off by Vivas.

The first two Batavia batters in the second also reached base. Ryan Boe smacked Batavia’s only extra-base hit, a double, to right to start the frame. Darren Barnes, the next batter, drew the only Bulldogs walk. Bergman got out of the inning when Bryce Burgoni hit a dribbler back to the southpaw, who then started a 1-6-3 double play.

The first two Batavia batters in the third again reached base via a single and a hit batter but were left on base as Bergman retired the next three Bulldogs.

“Bergman did a really good job. He made some really good pitches when he had to,” Colucci said.

Hank Theile took the hill in the fourth inning for Lake Park and struck out the side on 11 pitches.

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