Strong Pitching Should Be Key Component to Lake Zurich Bears' Success This Season

Coach Gary Simon zeroes in on defense as primary area for improvement.

Lake Zurich High School varsity baseball coach Gary Simon was calm and collected as he stood by the visitor’s dugout at Mundelein High School last week. His team had just lost 11-0, as the Mustangs walked off the field in the bottom of the sixth inning because they had just crossed the slaughter rule threshold. Jordan Wiegold’s  smash line drive double was the final blow, driving in the last two runs. Simon, while not thrilled with his team’s performance, also was not overly concerned. He preferred taking the long view, aware that there are plenty of games left in the season to make amends. “We just need to get ready for our next game up in Waukegan,” he said. “We didn’t play like this in the tournament last week,” Simon said, referring to…

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The Sports Kat

Spring Sports Have Sprung

Lake Zurich High School's baseball, lacrosse and soccer seasons are warming up with the weather

Spring is here, which means that baseball, lacrosse and soccer are flourishing at various community, park and recreation department and school fields throughout Lake Zurich and the surrounding Ela Township environs. Lacrosse in particular is gaining traction as an increasingly popular youth sport, similar to where soccer was 15-to-20 years ago. The Lake Zurich High School Boys Lacrosse Team is a steadily improving squad. Currently at the B level in the North Suburban Conference, they’re starting to look like they’ll be able to bring it against some of the upper-tier A level teams. “We’re pretty talented this year,” first-year coach Kyle Dresser said. “We’re fast and athletic and we have a number of guys who can shoot the ball.” The Bears …

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Mustangs Lead Bears to Slaughter Rule

11-0 Mundelein lead ends it in the bottom of the sixth.

After Tuesday’s 9-1 pasting by visiting Mundelein, it would have been a tall order for the Lake Zurich High School Bears baseball team  to avenge that loss on Wednesday, especially given that the 9-0 Mustangs had home field advantage. Wednesday’s outcome was even uglier, as the Bears succumbed to the slaughter rule after Mundelein scored four runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to take an 11-0 lead. “This is by far the best Mundelein team that I’ve seen in my 11 years here,” said Lake Zurich coach Gary Simon. “They’ve got a lot of things working for them: pitching, hitting, good defense. Their pitching looks real good.” After putting it all together in Tuesday’s dominant win, the Mustangs were hard-pressed to outdo themselves in …

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The Patch Hardwood Tour

Wrapping It Up With Round-Ball Accolades

Mirko Grcic named to All-Patch Hardwood Tour First Team.

Seventeenth in a series  The Patch Hardwood Tour examines boys high school basketball on a weekly rotational basis, focusing on teams in a 12-town region. Its intent is to celebrate and inform about prep hoops; the best high school sport in the state. With this column, The Tour officially concludes for this season.      Excellence was abundant on The Patch Hardwood Tour during this past hoops season. From the gloriously outstanding campaigns of the Huntley Red Raiders and Crystal Lake Central Tigers to the late-season victories finally garnered by struggling squads from Prairie Ridge and Lake Zurich, effort earned rewards. In that same spirit, this column wraps up the 2010-11 basketball season by acknowledging the teams and individuals who…

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The Patch Hardwood Tour

Curtain Falls on Tourney Hopes for Last Four Patch Teams

The uncompromising tournament known as March Madness had swallowed the quartet whole.

Sixteenth in a series. The Patch Hardwood Tour examines boys high school basketball on a weekly rotational basis, focusing on teams in a 12-town region. Its intent is to celebrate and inform about prep hoops; the best high school sport in the state. The Tour will be stopping in your town soon.   Four remaining survivors of the 17 Patch Hardwood Tour teams advanced into week 16 of the high school basketball season, but by the end of the seven-day stretch, the uncompromising tournament known as March Madness had swallowed the quartet whole. Such is the one-and-done nature of the IHSA prep basketball tournament, which snuffed the hopes of Huntley, Crystal Lake Central, Grayslake Central and Fremd. Each had managed to survive the first week of…

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The Patch Hardwood Tour

Four Patch Teams Survive First Week of Madness

Huntley, Crystal Lake Central, Fremd and Grayslake Central remain in the hunt.

The attrition that accompanies the beginning of March Madness is startling in its callous swiftness. Teams build all year for a run in the state hoops tournament, but most hopes are snuffed almost immediately, and oft-times cruelly. After one week, just four of the 17 Patch Hardwood Tour teams are still standing, proudly hoisting Regional championship plaques. Three of those (Huntley, Crystal Lake Central and Fremd) were listed as this column’s top four teams in the final regular season poll. The fourth (Grayslake Central) is no real surprise, based on potential demonstrated numerous times during the year that belied its record. The advancing quartet in equally divided, with two of the squads (Huntley and Fremd) advancing to Class 4A …

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The Patch Hardwood Tour

Lake Cross-Town Finale is Perfect Tourney Prelude

Local version of March Madness begins with roundup of 17 teams.

 Fourteenth in a series   The Patch Hardwood Tour examines boys high school basketball on a weekly rotational basis, focusing on teams in a 12-town region. Its intent is to celebrate and inform about prep hoops; the best high school sport in the state. The Tour will be stopping in your town soon.      At halftime, a cheerleader from each Crystal Lake team flip-flopped wildly across the basketball court from opposite ends, then slammed violently together in mid-spin near the center line to the concerned gasp of the full-house crowd.    Thankfully, neither of the young girls suffered serious injury, but their unintended meeting symbolized the full-bore battle that took place Friday night between the Crystal Lake Central Tigers (22-4) and the…

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View Finder

Game Faces

A pictorial tribute to some of the people whose contributions are an important part of every Bears basketball game.

There's more than just the Bears boys basketball team hitting the hardwood floor at each home game. It takes an entire cast of characters to put it all together.

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Bears Boys Muzzle Bulldogs, 59-45

Lake Zurich builds up a 46-20 lead in the third quarter before cruising to an easy victory

With their 59-45 win over Grant Tuesday night, Lake Zurich has a modest two-game winning streak going into the IHSA quarterfinals. The team has seemingly turned the corner on some gaffes and inconsistencies that have plagued them most of the season, and their third and fourth quarter meltdowns suddenly seem a thing of the past. “The run in the third quarter was just great to see,” said coach Billy Pitcher. “We’ve talked about the problems we’ve had in the third quarter, and to see them put that run together is a good sign.” The game started inauspiciously for the Bears, who were quickly down 6-2, as the Bulldog’s senior guard Vic Muntu scored the team’s first two baskets. Then Lake Zurich started to chip away at the lead as Mirko Grcic …

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