Baseball: Lucier’s 5-hit, 5-RBI day leads Lakes to key win over Grayslake Central

Lakes senior leadoff man Derek Lucier and his teammates are trying not to let boxscores and scoreboards impact their approach to the game.

But they enjoyed how things looked in Tuesday’s opener of a big three-game series with three-time defending Northern Lake County Conference champion Grayslake Central. The lefty-hitting Lucier went 5-for-5 with 5 RBI and the Eagles put runs on the board in every inning of a 13-5 victory in Lake Villa.

“I think we’ve changed everything with the entire team,” said Lucier, who wasn’t sure if he had a 5-hit game before. “We’ve tried to improve the culture and build each other up.”

As a result, Lakes (15-5, 7-3) already has 3 more wins than last season and is part of a tight NLCC title chase with Grayslake Central (14-8, 8-4) and Wauconda (15-8, 7-3). Lucier fueled a 17-hit attack with 2 hits apiece from Spencer Kennamann (3 RBI), Mason Stiegleiter, Zach Raffone, Ethan Jablonski and winning pitcher Carson Norris.

“What we’ve really been talking about as a team is trying to play the same way regardless of what the scoreboard says,” said Lakes coach Chris Hoffman. “That’s hard to do sometimes but our guys are doing a really, really good job of staying locked in the game regardless of whether they’re having success or not.”

No one was more locked in than Lucier as he lined a double to right-center in his first at-bat. His 2-run single in the second put the Eagles ahead to stay at 4-3, he blooped a 2-run single to right in the third and singled to center in the fifth and sixth.

“He was definitely the best player on the field today,” said Central coach Troy Whalen.

“I’ve definitely been seeing the ball well,” Lucier said. “I’ve had a really good approach and been sticking to what Hoffman tells us all the time.”

A 2-run double in the first by Jacob Redker and an RBI single in the second by Jordon Dumas (2-for-4, 2 RBI) put the Rams up 3-2. But two baserunning mistakes prevented opportunities for a bigger lead and Norris, who came on in the second after Hoffman said Kennamann’s arm didn’t feel great, allowed 2 earned runs in 4 innings.

Lakes got double plays to end threats — up 7-5 in the fifth and 9-5 in the sixth — that were started by shortstop J.J. Jackson and Raffone at third.

“There were definitely points the game could have completely flipped,” Lucier said.

Now the Rams will try to slow the Eagles the next two days after committing 4 errors that led to 5 unearned runs.

“We just couldn’t get a stop when we needed one,” Whalen, a longtime basketball official, said with a rueful smile.