St. Charles North sweeps Lake Park
These are the days that lead to championships.
St. Charles North's baseball team swept an Upstate Eight Conference doubleheader against Lake Park on Saturday in Roselle, solidifying its stance atop the UEC standings by winning 12-3 and 8-6 in Roselle.
After claiming two critical games the North Stars (23-4, 15-3) remain just ahead of Waubonsie Valley (17-8, 13-4) in the race for the UEC title.
"Coming off of Thursday's win over (St. Charles) East, we had a lot of momentum rolling into these games," said St. Charles North shortstop Ryan Richardson. "Now we've got to come out on Tuesday (against Lake Park) and keep that momentum going."
Lake Park (16-10, 10-8) nearly forged a split after taking a 6-4 lead to the seventh inning of Game 2. The North Stars, however, scored 4 runs to seize the lead. Small ball got the job done as an infield single by John Brodner and a bunt single by Josh Loynachan each drove in a run. Dirk Schmitt added an RBI single.
Richardson spotted St. Charles North to a 3-0 lead in the top of the second with a two-out, 2-run single. Lake Park scored twice in the third and twice in the fourth on Peter Spear's pinch-hit 2-run single to take a 4-3 lead.
The Lancers added a run in the fifth on an RBI single by Zach Tsiodras and pushed their lead to 6-4 in the sixth when Jake McNamara scored on a wild pitch.
The loss capped a frustrating day for Lake Park, which saw a chance to climb into the UEC race slip away after leading both games Saturday.
"I really feel like we gave a couple away today," said Lancers coach Dan Colucci. "It's not even about the conference. I want us to be playing good baseball, and we played scared baseball today."
St. Charles North grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first inning of the opener on three infield singles, with Kevin Borst and Matt Stevens driving in runs. Artie Monaco's 2-run single and a sacrifice fly by Tsiodras put the Lancers on top 3-2 in the bottom of the inning, but the North Stars tied it in the fourth after one of five Lake Park errors in the game.
After Lancers starter Peter Spear (2-3) struck out the first two batters of the sixth inning, the North Stars exploded for 7 runs. Richardson, Mike Budka, Schmitt and John Munyon each drove in runs for St. Charles North, which scored 11 of its 12 runs with two outs.
St. Charles North added 2 runs in the seventh to set up a complete-game win for Austin Schuetz (2-0), who scattered 6 hits and struck out three. Ryan Jones (1-1) was the winning pitcher in relief in Game 2 as Kevin Borst picked up his second save.
Richardson went 5-for-9 with 3 RBI on the day while Stevens went 5-for-8 with 2 RBI. Monaco had 4 hits for the Lancers.
"For us to come in here and take two games is huge," said North Stars coach Todd Genke. "We still control our own destiny in trying to win this conference."