The Lane Tech Varsity Baseball team slid home with an 11-1 victory May 12 against Northside Prep.

Lane, who “won the game in five minutes,” according to varsity pitching coach Henry Szumal, scored 8 runs in their fifth inning, bringing the game to an immediate end once they reached a 10-run lead.

”It was a total team effort,” Szumal said. “We’ve hit well. I think we’ve pitched well, and I think that we’re defending well.” 

Despite the blowout, Lane had a slow start. “I thought that Northside did a good job of heading out and trying to swing on early counts,” Szumal said, referring to Northside’s early run and base runners near the beginning. 

Early on, Northside was strong at the plate. They started their first inning with four runners on bases and a run scored, when Lane had only one runner who was held at first base by Northside’s pitcher.

The turning point came in the fifth inning, the last of the game. The fastballs served by Lane Tech pitcher Cruz Warren were effective in holding Northside, striking out three batters in a row. According to Szumal, that “really was the biggest part of the game.”

“After around the third inning, the fourth inning, it seemed like [Lane] started to pull away,” said Andrew Wilson, father of Northside’s catcher. Regardless, Northside put up a fight. “The man who was starting, he’s a good pitcher,” Wilson said. “He looked like he ran out of gas a little bit, but we’ve won a lot of games against some pretty good teams in the past.”

Though Lane’s win was attributed to their runs during the fifth, a mix of sloppy outfield plays didn’t help Northside’s case. The left fielder’s constant slips when attempting to get the ball was likely due to the light shower before and during the game, dampening the field and causing that extra struggle. 

That, combined with the relentlessness of Lane pushed them to the win. According to Jacob DeVinny, centerfielder for Lane, “[We] started hitting low line drives, getting the ball on the ground,” DeVinny said. “That’s when you really come together as a team, and start scoring runs,” he said. 

With the CPL championship around the corner, DeVinney said he has “high aspirations” for future games. “We just want to take it one game at a time, see how far we can bring it this year,” DeVinny said. “As long as our bats are hot, I don’t think there’s anybody that we can’t beat.”