Lincoln Park was a rock star on the mound Wednesday evening.
Not to be confused with the rock band Linkin Park, the Wheaton Academy senior put on a show as the Warriors hosted Aurora Christian seeking to remain unbeaten in Chicagoland Christian Conference play. Mixing curveballs and fastballs, Park struck out 10 batters and carried a no-hitter into the fifth inning of Wheaton Academy’s 10-2 victory.
“I was making sure I get ahead in counts and the curveball was working,” said Park, who limited Aurora Christian to three hits and walked just two in a complete-game outing. “I made sure I was in that 0-1 count and I wasn’t getting behind. I played my fastball off the curveball and my splitter was moving. Everything was flowing.”
Park fired 104 pitches in total and struck out two batters in the top of the seventh to clinch Wheaton Academy’s victory. It’s the 10th straight win for the Warriors (18-5, 9-0 CCC), who are outscoring opponents 102-25 over that span. Aurora Christian (15-4, 6-1 CCC) had its 10-game winning streak snapped with the loss Wednesday.
“They came out hitting and we were a little off execution-wise,” Aurora Christian coach Andy Zorger said. “We left some balls in the middle of the zone and they took advantage of it. Their pitcher had a good curveball, good velocity and we didn’t get anything going.”
A 1-2-3 top of the first gave way to a five-run bottom half for the Warriors, who slapped three consecutive singles to load the bases. Mark Jackson drew a walk for one run and Dallas Johnston lofted a sacrifice fly to left fielder Jackson Zorger to make the score 2-0.
Angelo Murrell then reloaded the bases on a single to center field. Stepping up with a chance to break the game open, catcher Eli Tate pounded a 1-2 pitch to deep left field for a two-run double. Another sacrifice fly, this time from Park, capped off the five-run outburst.
“I was coming up feeling good,” Tate said. “Guys were getting on base and that let me do my job and produce for us. I got down 1-2 and I wanted to see the fastball off the hand. I crushed it and helped the team out. We were really seeing the ball well off their hand. We’ve been hitting so good top to bottom lately. These guys are producing.”
Murrell ripped his second single of the night in the third, driving home Jackson on a hard-hit grounder through the middle. It was the first of three singles in the frame for Wheaton Academy, which went ahead 7-0 after a miscue on an infield fly allowed Murrell to sprint home.
“I was seeing fastball and adjusting to the curveball,” said Murrell, whose team finished with nine hits. “When he hung the curveball, I just hit it up the middle. ... We just talk to each other about what we’re seeing in the box. Fastball or curveball, it doesn’t matter.”
The Warriors knocked Aurora Christian starter Zach Zappia out of the game after three innings. The Eagles turned to left-handed reliever Colin Gary in the fourth, but Gary struggled to find the strike zone. Gary conceded five consecutive walks, which brought two Warriors home before a double-play grounder by Murrell drove a third run in.
Faced with a 10-0 deficit, Aurora Christian avoided the shutout with two runs in the fifth. Gary broke Park’s no-hitter up with a line-drive single to left. The Eagles, who opened the frame with a lead-off walk, strung together two straight RBI groundouts to get on the board. The Eagles put two on in the sixth, but a groundout ended the threat.
“The good thing is we’re going to play them again tomorrow,” said Andy Zorger, whose Eagles will host Wheaton Academy at 4:30 p.m. Thursday. “We get to see them again and we’ll see what happens. We’re capable of playing them and we know they’re not eight or nine runs better than us. We need to come out and prove it tomorrow.”