Despite having been shut out by Lyons Township’s baseball team twice during the regular season, Glenbard West senior catcher Ben Krusen wasn’t necessarily concerned with his team’s offense heading into Saturday’s Class 4A sectional championship clash.

“It wasn’t the problem of us not being able to hit, it was them not hitting the ball,” said Krusen.

Top-seeded Lyons Township proved Krusen to be somewhat of a prophet, as the Lions (34-4) jumped on top early and didn’t look back during their 7-2 triumph over the 14^th-seeded Hilltoppers (19-18) at St. Charles North.

Lyons, which advances to Monday’s Rockford supersectional against Streamwood, scored three first-inning runs off of senior left-hander Garrett Stalker, who had kept the Lions at bay when the two teams met earlier (in a game won by Lyons, 6-0).

Spencer Mahoney (3-for-4, 2 RBI) led off with a single and advanced to third on a double by Steve Heilenbach before scoring on Brian Rodemoyer’s sacrifice fly to make it 1-0. Tom Walsh followed with an RBI double to left-center and eventually came across on a wild pitch to up the Lions’ lead to 3-0.

Falling behind early against a team that had outscored them 36-3 during the regular season wasn’t part of the pre-game plan for the Hilltoppers.

“With the momentum we had going in, we expected to have a big game,” said Krusen. “For them to get three runs right off the bat, it was a little bit of a letdown. We just tried to stay in it the best we could.”

Lyons put the game away with a four-run fourth, highlighted by Mike Pett’s RBI double and Mahoney’s two-run single.

“There’s a reason why they’re as good as they are,” Hilltoppers coach Brian Wojtun said of Lyons. “They’re not a good team – they’re a great team.”

Glenbard West, which squandered a couple scoring opportunities in the first two innings, finally touched Lyons starting pitcher Zach Remijas (10-0) and reliever Keith Lehmann for both of its runs in the sixth.

Bob Targo got the Hilltoppers on the board with a run-scoring groundout before Tyler Curtis came across a few moments later on a wild pitch.

“We had a couple scoring opportunities early against a kid (Remijas) who doesn’t give up a lot of earned runs,” said Wojtun. “I think he had given up four (earned runs) on the year.”

Glenbard, seeking its first sectional title since 2002, was retired in order in the seventh to end a wild postseason ride that included victories over third-seeded St. Charles North, sixth-seeded York, and second-seeded St. Charles East.

“We started off 3-12 and then nobody expected us to go this far,” said Krusen, who will play at North Central next season. “In the beginning of the season, we had a lot of injuries and a lot of guys with arm problems.

“But it all came together and everybody started to hit,” added Krusen, who finished with an 8-1 pitching record. “We got a lot of confidence going and I think we just came together as a group.”

Glenbard recovered from a slow start to win 16 of its last 23 games, including four postseason contests.

“Our kids weren’t afraid,” said Wojtun. “They played the best they could. I’m very proud of our players and the way they turned things around this season.”