St. Charles East edges Batavia in extra innings
Matt Holm has seen enough nip-and-tuck Batavia-St. Charles East games through the years to offer a suggestion to Saints coach Len Asquini.
"I told Len let's just start in the seventh inning and go from there," the Batavia coach said.
That idea would have worked perfectly in the opener of a 3-game game series Tuesday at St. Charles East - not to mention keeping the fans who braved the 40-degree temps quite a bit warmer.
The teams started the seventh inning right where they were on the opening pitch - 0-0 - after Batavia's Evan Acosta and St. Charles East's Austin Regelbrugge both pitched 6 innings of goose eggs.
Each team turned to the bullpen, and the Bulldogs' Nick Rogalski and the Saints' Stephen Podany kept the game scoreless until St. Charles East scratched out a run in the bottom of the eighth for a 1-0 victory in a well-pitched, well-played, low-scoring game that's become the norm for this matchup.
"It's been like that for awhile," Asquini said. "They keep throwing guys like Evan Acosta out there it's going to be like that. Our kids battled. We had some opportunities and didn't come through and part of that is Evan is tough on the mound."
In baseball it never hurts to have a short memory. That proved especially true for St. Charles East shortstop Jimmy Dale.
After going 0-for-3 with a pair of strikeouts, Dale hit a ball just past Batavia shortstop Kyle Niemiec through the hole to score Jake Asquini with the game's only run with 2 outs in the last of the eighth.
Asquini reached on an infield single and took second on a groundout. After Batavia intentionally walked Anthony Adduci, Dale came through with the game-winner. The throw from left field was just a little off target on the first-base side, allowing Asquini to score standing up.
"Up to that point I was probably having my worst game of the season, swinging at terrible pitches," said Dale, who had a pair of game-winning hits last year on the sophomore team. "He (Acosta) threw some good stuff. I tried to clear my mind, get one through. It was all about pitching and defense the whole game, we wouldn't have been in it without it. We just keep fighting."
St. Charles East (3-2, 1-0 in the Upstate Eight Conference River) had the first scoring chance but Acosta stranded Reid Olson at third.
Acosta also left runners in scoring position in the third, fourth and sixth innings. The Western Kentucky bound lefty finished with 6 strikeouts while allowing just 2 walks and a double to Olson and single to Adduci in his 6 innings.
Regelbrugge put up nearly identical numbers, 4 strikeouts with 4 hits and 1 walk - an intentional one to Niemiec.
"I was just mixing it up the whole time, try to mix them up with my different pitches," Regelbrugge said. "I felt good. We've (himself and Acosta) been throwing against each other since seventh grade. It's always a fun battle, it's always a close matchup. We fielded the ball well, we faced a tough kid on the mound, but in the end we just scratched one more run."
Batavia (1-4, 0-1) also had chances including a leadoff double by Niemiec in the second. In the sixth Len Asquini elected to walk Niemiec intentionally with Pat Greco on second base, and Regelbrugge made the move work by retiring the next two hitters on fly balls to right field.
"Just put him on and we'll reset and go from there," Asquini said of walking Niemiec. "We might be able to do that with them this year. Last year some of those guys you walk to get to the next guy is not such a good idea."
Podany earned his second win of the season retiring all 6 batters he faced.
"He just pounds the zone," Asquini said. "We're happy with his progression."
Batavia, playing without catcher Matt Musielak and all three starting outfielders out with various injuries, will try to even the series at home Wednesday.
"Evan pitched well, I thought Nick pitched well," Holm said. "We're struggling right now because we just aren't getting things done and we aren't finishing things. We don't really have an identity yet. That will all come. We'll be all right."