Patriots complete key NSC Lake sweep of Mundelein

The Firth shall be last.

The Stevenson High baseball team physically paraphrased a well-known Biblical passage Tuesday to close out an important 4-3 conference win over host Mundelein.

Patriots ace Scott Firth came in relief of teammate Brad Sorkin with one out and the tying run 90 feet away in the last inning and, throwing heat, promptly slammed the door shut to get the save.

Sorkin had been sailing along with a 4-1 lead, yielding his only tally on a passed ball. But the Mustangs scored twice in the bottom of the seventh on a walk, a single and a double by ninth-place hitter Justin Piasecki before Firth was summoned by second-year head coach Paul Mazzuca with two outs to go.

"There was no doubt in my mind about bringing him in," said Mazzuca, who has now used Firth three times in save situations this season, all successfully. "When you have a weapon like Scott, you use him. And there was no way I was going to let the top of their lineup see Brad for the fourth time."

Firth induced leadoff hitter Kevin Barber to ground out, short-to-first, with Piasecki advancing to third. The Clemson-bound fireballer then smoked Colton Tortorello on fastballs to end the game and complete a two-game sweep of Mundelein that began with an extra-inning victory the previous day.

"I was a little worried with Barber up there, because he's a good fastball hitter," said Mazzuca. "But with the second pitch to the second hitter (Tortorello), I knew we had the game. Holy cats! That second pitch..."

Stevenson players were still buzzing about that second-pitch heater following the game, with catcher Matt Geissler overheard to say that the pitch left him with a sore hand.

Stevenson got all the runs it needed in its first two at bats, scoring three in the first and one in the second. The winning run was a manufactured tally, with leadoff hitter Bill Dorn reaching on error, stealing second, advancing to third on a fielder's choice and scoring on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Kyle Ruchim. The win puts Stevenson (20-7) in a position to capture the North Suburban Conference Lake Division title with a sweep of first-place Lake Zurich on Monday and Tuesday. Going into those final division contests, Lake Zurich is 8-2 in the division and Stevenson is 7-3.