Lake Forest 10 Blue Scouts Grab Vernon Hills Tourney

Lake Forest Baseball Association's (LFBA) 10 Blue Scouts captured the championship of the 15th Annual Vernon Hills Classic on July 7-8.

Lake Forest rallied to beat Libertyville Orange, 15-14, in the championship game thanks to James Manzer’s walk-off shot over the right fielder’s head to score Michael Vallone as the two-hour time limitation ticked down.

Libertyville put Lake Forest in a 7-0 hole quickly in the top of the first. Lake Forest fought back in the first three innings to tie the score at 7-7 with Connor Armstrong driving in three runs on Manzer’s bases-loaded triple. The Scouts then took the lead, 9-7, with key RBIs from Will Klinge and Ethan O’Rourke.

However, Libertyville answered back with five runs in the fourth and fifth innings to retake the lead 12-9. Lake Forest came back once more in the fifth with an RBI each from Ian Schuler, Klinge, and O’Rourke to tie the game at 12.

Libertyville Orange scored two runs to move ahead 14-12, and was even poised to get a another run before catcher Joey Kotlarz gunned a runner out trying to steal third base. But in the bottom of the sixth, Michael Vallone singled in Luke Gerskovich to draw Lake Forest within one-run and Solomon Sweet tied the game at 14-14 with a single, plating Charlie Altounian and set up Manzer's heroics.

Lake Forest earned a 1-1 mark in pool play to start the Classic, beating Buffalo Grove, 9-6, and losing 11-6 to Vernon Hills to qualify for the single elimination round.

Lake Forest knocked off Cary, 19-6, and Deerfield, 5-3, in the semi-finals on Kenny Turelli's two-run double.

Throughout the tournament, pitcher Breck Nowik dominated on the mound over 6 2/3 innings pitched, giving up just one earned run and striking out eight. Of note, the Scouts were missing key player Robby Gray, who suffered a broken jaw in a baseball related incident at the end of June.

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