Baseball: La Salle-Peru’s Mason Lynch shuts out Dunlap

OGLESBY – When Mason Lynch is scheduled to pitch, he spends all day mentally preparing to take the mound.

“I go through the day and that’s all I’m thinking about,” Lynch said. “I just came mentally prepared and think that I’m the man when I’m on the mound.”

Lynch was the man Thursday.

The senior threw a three-hit shutout with a career-high 14 strikeouts and one walk to lead La Salle-Peru to a 3-0 victory over Dunlap in a nonconference game.

“It all starts with Mason Lynch,” L-P coach Matt Glupczynski said. “Our guys fed off him. He dared the other team to hit him, and they couldn’t. Our guys backed him up defensively, and late in the game we were able to push a few runs across.

“That’s what we’re going to have to do this year. We talked a lot about that. We have to be a really gritty, grindy team and that’s what we did today. I’m very proud of our guys.”

Lynch was strong from the start as he sat down the first six batters he faced, striking out the side in the second inning.

“I attacked early,” Lynch said. “I didn’t throw many balls, so I got started ahead in the count and then worked my offspeed and they couldn’t hit it.”

Lynch only got into trouble one time.

In the fourth inning, Dunlap’s Davis Weeks led off with a single and moved to second when Adrean Nava bunted and reached on an errant throw.

After a strikeout, Lynch’s counterpart, Caleb Diver, singled to load the bases.

Lynch struck out Ryan DiGiallonardo before inducing a groundout to escape the jam.

“There was one out with the bases loaded and I got a strikeout for the second out,” Lynch said. “Then I told my defense I’m going to put it in play for them and I know they’re going to make the play. [Jacob] Gross made the third out for me.”

While Lynch was dominating the Eagles, Diver was making it difficult for the Cavs offensively, as well.

L-P managed only one hit through four innings before getting on the board in the fifth.

Gross singled with one out to get things started, then advanced to second and third on wild pitches.

With two outs, Jack Jereb laid down a bunt and reached for a single to plate Gross.

“I had told our pinch runner, Brevyn Vogel, to be prepared because if he gets it down, you should be able to score,” Glupczynski said. “Brevyn Vogel is only a sophomore and was up with us because the sophomores weren’t playing. I put him in a big spot and he didn’t freeze. He reacted and scored. I thought Jack Jereb did an outstanding job of trusting what he saw and executing that bunt with two outs.”

The Cavs tacked on two insurance runs in the sixth inning.

Brendan Boudreau doubled with two outs, and Billy Mini followed by drawing a walk.

Nathan Van Duzer then ripped a two-run double to deep left field to extend L-P’s lead to 3-0.

Lynch struck out the side in the sixth inning and fanned the first two batters in the seventh.

After issuing his only walk of the game, he induced a groundout to himself to end the game.

“After we put up that first run, I knew that I wasn’t going to let them score, and that’s what I did,” Lynch said. “[Scoring two in the sixth] made me even more comfortable just letting them put the ball in play and letting the defense get the job done.”

The Cavs (4-3) play Streator on Saturday in a nonconference game before opening Interstate 8 Conference play Monday at Kaneland.

“We’ve been trying to figure things out, getting a lot of reps,” Glupczynski said. “With Kaneland coming up, we’re going to reset and get ready to go. Our conference is really tough, one through eight. Kaneland is going to be a great team. They got to a sectional final last year. They’ll be ready to play, and so will we. It should be a good series.”