No. 12 Brother Rice Takes Down Glenbrook North

No. 12 Brother Rice travelled to Northbrook to face Glenbrook North in a non-conference matchup on Friday afternoon. The Crusaders of Brother Rice were relentless from the start and got a big all-around day from Luke Lawrence, ultimately coming away with an 11-1 win in five innings.

Lawrence, a senior Webster commit, stood out all over the field in the win for Brother Rice (22-7). The left-handed hitter finished 2-for-3, with a two-run home run, a two-run double, a walk, four RBI’s, two runs scored and reached base in all four at-bats. Lawrence’s home run was a backspin line-drive that left the yard quickly to right-center field; the big blast, which came in the top of the fifth inning, put Brother Rice up 10, allowing them to win in five innings. Defensively, Lawrence also had to make a number of quality plays at shortstop, which is a fairly brand new position for him. Better known as a C/1B, Lawrence made a number of plays on the move look natural, his glove played soft and his arm played accurately.

Brother Rice put up one run in the first inning and a seven spot in the second to put the game away pretty early. The Crusaders offense was helped by six free passes and an error in the seven run second inning. Junior Jack Lausch delivered a two-run single in the frame, Lawrence hammered his two-run double to the right-center field wall and junior Nick Daugherty hit a fly ball to center field that landed safely in between a number of defenders in shallow center field for a two-run double. Daugherty actually started the big inning with a leadoff single up the middle and came around to score the first run of the frame.

Sophomore Spencer Geake got the start on the mound for Glenbrook North (16-9). The 6-foot-2, 185-pound, wide-shouldered, athletically-built, right-hander is an arm to follow down the road despite tough results today. His arm works loose and clean with minimal effort and he ran his fastball up to 85 mph, sitting 83-84 mph in the first inning. He also flashed a sweeping breaking ball in the upper-60’s and a changeup at 74 mph. Geake, a left-handed hitter, who hit out of the four-hole, also helped his own cause in the bottom of the second smoking a line-drive double into the right-center field gap and was 4.51 on the turn. He later scored their only run of the game. 

Jacob Fenton, an uncommitted junior, got the start and win on the mound for Brother Rice going three innings. The 6-foot-3, 170-pound long and lean right-hander scattered three hits, one run, struck out two and did not walk a batter. Fenton works from an unorthodox low slot with a short draw out of the glove creating deception and late run and sink to his fastball (touched 82 mph in the first inning), when it is at its best. He also showed off a tight, late-breaking slider with horizontal action at 72-73 mph, showing above-average feel throughout.

For more in-depth notes from the games - and all other games that we cover - visit the Illinois Scout Blog.

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