Baseball Team Wins Thriller Over Lake Park, Then Falls To Saints in 4A Regional

Geneva senior Brad Bernhard was facing his last day at the plate as his team trailed by two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning Friday afternoon against Lake Park.

“Obviously down, thinking this is it—last at-bat—just trying to make something happen,” Bernhard said.

But Bernhard would do something few of his teammates could all day against Lake Park starter Christian Taugner in the teams’ Class 4A regional semifinal at Geneva.

The Lancers’ sophomore was masterful all game against the Vikings, fanning a career-high 14 batters against a lone walk.

Bernhard, though, connected on a dramatic two-run home run to send the game into extra innings, where Geneva prevailed 5-4 on a  Mike Monaghan bases-loaded walk with two outs in the ninth inning.

“It was exciting,” Bernhard said of his third home run of the season. “It was a tough day at the plate for everybody.”

Taugner had used a classic recipe of breaking balls intermixed with his fastball to bedevil Geneva all afternoon. But on the gopher ball to Bernhard, the right-hander admitted he made a mistake.

“It was supposed to be outside, and I left it over the plate,” Taugner said.

Andy Francis’ one-out single preceded the Bernhard drive to right center; the two-run shot matched the two runs Lake Park scored in its half of the seventh.

Matt Williams, who committed to Northern Illinois’ football program earlier this week, parked a solo home run to lead off the Vikings’ fourth. Williams was the last of three Geneva pitchers on the day, pitching both extra innings to earn his fourth win of the spring.

Francis singled again with one out in the Vikings’ ninth and walks to Jimmy Martin and Bernhard loaded the bases with two outs. Monaghan knew he had to be selective as Bernhard had walked on four straight pitches preceding his at-bat.

“We were looking for anyway to win the game,” Monaghan said. “I was making sure (the Lake Park reliever) was going to throw strike one—and it never came.”
Monaghan patiently watched as all four offerings sailed out of the strike zone, enabling Francis to stroll home with the winning run for the seventh-seeded Vikings.

“We’ve faced good pitching all year,” Geneva coach Matt Hahn said. “It’s cliché, but your job is to move on, doesn’t matter how you do it.”

Bernhard also produced the first run of the game when his second-inning single to left plated Chris Hipchen. The Lancers (22-14) scored single runs in the third and fourth innings; Williams’ prodigious blast over the left-center field fence tied the game for a second time at 2-2 in the fourth.

The Vikings could not sustain their come-from-behind formula in the regional championship. St. Charles East southpaw Wes Mason handcuffed the Vikings on two hits en route to a complete-game 6-0 shutout Saturday morning.
Geneva, with six 20-game seasons in six of the last seven years, ended its campaign at 21-12.