St. Charles East puts it all together vs. Geneva
Geneva coach Matt Hahn called his team’s quarterfinal at St. Charles East on Tuesday a tale of two games — and watched as the Saints outplayed the Vikings in both.
St. Charles East led 4-2 through four-and-a-half innings as starters Troy Dykhuis and Tony Landi kept the score relatively in check. The game turned into a slugfest over the final two innings with a combined 18 runs, and the Saints again outscored the Vikings over that stretch 11-6 to post a 15-8 victory in the Phil Lawler Summer State Tournament.
No. 5 St. Charles East (17-5) will host No. 9 Kaneland in the regional semifinals Wednesday. No. 13 seed Geneva ends the summer at 12-10-3.
Geneva slugged 10 extra-base hits the previous day in a win over Batavia but was held to two by the Saints trio of Dykhuis, Derek Olson and Michael Boehmer.
“St. Charles East is good,” Hahn said. “There is this stigma here, they have the history, you know what you are getting when you walk in. You are going to have to play really well. That’s (Saints coach) Len (Asquini) coaching, that’s the type of kids who live here and play hard. That’s what you get when you come here.”
Geneva struck first in the second inning. Anthony Bragg led off with a single and hustled to third base when the ball got past the Saints center fielder. Bragg scored on Ben Chally’s sacrifice fly.
The Saints took control with a 4-run third aided by a hit batter, walk and two Geneva errors. Isaac Nimick executed a hit-and-run to send Jack DelloStritto to third and start the rally. Brannon Barry had the only RBI in the inning on a single up the middle.
After the Vikings pulled within 4-2 on Jake Weede’s single to score Brock Chenier in the fifth, the Saints broke the game open with a 7-run fifth. Anthony Sciarrino laid down a suicide squeeze to score a run, Barry lofted a sacrifice fly to plate another, DelloStritto singled in a run and Joe Hoscheit capped the inning with a bases-clearing double to the gap in right-center putting the Saints up 11-2.
“We had it rolling,” Asquini said. “That was a great offensive inning for us. We had great run-producing at-bats. Great at-bats.”
A 3-run home run to left field by Mitch Endriukaitis highlighted Geneva’s 6-run sixth to pull within 11-8 only to see the Saints push across four insurance runs in their half of the sixth. Brian Sobieski came off the bench to launch a 3-run homer off the scoreboard in left field.
“Our group responded in the bottom of the sixth and that was huge,” Asquini said. “That’s the good thing, that’s positive. They rose back up and got it done.”
DelloStritto led the Saints’ 13-hit attack going 4-for-5. He wore Geneva out hitting the ball the opposite way, causing Hahn to try an exaggerated shift.
DelloStritto kept finding holes on the right side even with the extra fielders on that side.
“I just saw everyone up the middle or on the right side and I just laughed and I was smiling,” DelloStritto said. “I was almost on top of the plate waiting for an inside pitch to drive to left field but didn’t end up seeing anything inside all day. It was good to work on sitting back and see good results. Before the game I was working on staying back and working on the outside pitch and they threw me outside all day.”
Bryce Rentschler led Geneva with 3 hits.
“We tried guys in different positions, (we) challenged juniors,” Hahn said of the summer season. “Very impressed with Max Novak all summer. Max isn’t the only one, he’s an example. You try to figure out which of those guys are going to help you. You like to go into spring knowing what you’ve got.”
After traveling to Harlem and Rock Island the past two days, Kaneland will head east to St. Charles East for the semifinals on Wednesday. In the other semifinal, No. 10 Cary-Grove — who beat No. 15 West Aurora 9-5 on Wednesday — will play at No. 6 Crystal Lake South.
Kaneland reached the semifinals by knocking off No. 1 seed Rock Island, 6-5, and now will try to cool down the Saints. The winner will play Cary-Grove or Crystal Lake South for the regional title at 5 p.m. Thursday for a spot in the state finals next week played at North Central College and Benedictine University.
“Minus that sixth inning we played really good baseball,” Asquini said. “We hope it continues two more games. We’re happy with where we’re at and our progress.”