Buffalo Grove 12, Lake Zurich 9

Buffalo Grove isn't quite ready to let baseball coach John Wendell head into retirement.

"That's fine with me," Wendell said with a laugh after BG upset third-seed Lake Zurich 12-9 in Wednesday's Class 4A regional semifinal at Barrington's Kirby Smith Field.

A combination of clutch hitting, solid defense and strong relief from Andrew Diederich and Walt Zawlocki gave the 14th-seeded Bison (12-14) their fourth straight victory and Wendell's 399th of his career.

BG will try to continue duplicating last year's surprise run to the Elite Eight when it plays for the regional title at 11 a.m. Saturday against No. 6 St. Viator or No. 10 Barrington from today's semifinal.

"We're playing good defense and throwing strikes and getting a few key hits," Wendell said. "That's been the key, our defense, knock on wood."

And the Bison knocked around the Bears with some heavy metal as Zack Borenstein went 3-for-4 with a double and a triple and James Bakun, James Hurley and Mike Ricciardi homered.

Bakun's 3-run blast keyed a 5-run third as BG took a 6-4 lead. A 3-run double in the fifth by Matt Stadler wiped out a 7-6 deficit.

Lake Zurich finally went to Penn State-bound Joey DeBernardis in the sixth but Borenstein tripled and Ricciardi homered in another 3-run outburst.

Diederich went 3½ innings for the victory and Zawlocki came in for the save. Borenstein at shortstop and second baseman Jon Moore also turned critical double plays.

"We've gotten in a rhythm and that makes a big difference," Wendell said.

It couldn't have happened at a better time.

Leyden 15, Northside 1: Sam Cochiaro (5-0) threw a 5-hitter as No. 2 Leyden (24-7) cruised in 5 innings in the 4A Notre Dame regional.

Jonathan Weaver went 2-for-4 with a homer and 3 RBI, Joe Natale was 2-for-2 with 4 RBI and Josh Serrano went 3-for-3 with 3 RBI.

Leyden will go for its second straight regional title at 2 p.m. Saturday against No. 7 Notre Dame or No. 10 Von Steuben in today's semifinal.