Streamwood’s Chris Lara wasn’t happy with the way he was hitting the ball going into his at-bat in the eighth inning.
He erased all the bad memories with one swing of the bat, however.
The sophomore shortstop ripped a double to left to drive in Kevin Lunz with the winning run Wednesday in a wild 8-7 Upstate Eight Conference victory over Bartlett.
The Sabres had lost seven straight Upstate Eight games coming into the day, but rallied from a five-run deficit to beat the conference champions.
“It was just put the ball in play,” Lara said. “I wanted to go (to the opposite field), but I barreled it. That’s all I really needed to do.
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“I didn’t hit really well except for that at-bat, so it felt good to barrel one up and drive it.”
Lunz cracked a one-out single to start the rally and advanced to second on a wild pitch.
“I gave him the option to bunt down the third base line if he was in or back, but he was in,” Streamwood coach Dan Jennings said of Lara. “He hadn’t gotten a hit in a couple days.
“He’s aggressive in the zone early in a plus count, 2-0. You have to love to hit in a plus count. It shows when the guys are on time and barrel it down the line. He did an awesome job.”
Bartlett (17-7, 15-2) looked to be in command early. The Hawks took a 7-2 lead in the top of the fifth inning on a two-run homer by Nick Castrovellari.
The wheels fell off in the bottom of the fifth, though.
Starter Nathan Gargano got his work in for the postseason, going four strong innings. Bartlett coach Chris Baum lifted him to give other pitchers some innings and made several defensive changes.
The Hawks then committed four errors as Streamwood sent 10 batters to the plate and scratched out five runs to force a 7-7 tie.
Nick Weaver contributed an RBI single in the rally. He finished 3-for-3 with three RBIs.
“We have to make the correct plays and slow the game down when it matters,” Baum said. “We’re getting our work in right now, making sure everybody is sharp.
“It’s the opportunity we were afforded by locking (the conference title) up the last game. We have to make sure we’re tight when it matters.”
Streamwood nearly took the lead in the bottom of the sixth, but Lara was nailed at the plate by Bartlett right fielder George Betevis to end the inning. Betevis also threw out a runner at third to end the third.
After allowing the homer, Eric Arroyo settled in on the mound to keep Streamwood in the game. He struck out three, allowed five hits and walked none over four innings to earn the win.
The two teams will be quite familiar with each other the next two weeks.
They wrap up the regular season in the UEC on Friday at Bartlett and then open the Class 4A playoffs against each other next Thursday.
“We never go into a game knowing we’re going to win or lose, but I definitely think we’re going to come out stronger,” Lara said. “We know we can take them.
“I think this will bring us as close as we need to be together. Hopefully, it rides throughout the rest of the season.”
Paul Johnson is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.