Geneva avoids sweep against St. Charles North

After being on the short end of some tough early season losses, Geneva baseball coach Matt Hahn expected another down-to-the-wire finish against St. Charles North Monday afternoon.

This time, the Vikings (3-4, 1-2) held on for a much-needed 5-3 Upstate Eight Conference River Division victory over the North Stars (8-1, 2-1) in Geneva.

"Three of our four losses up to this point were in the bottom of the seventh or in extra innings, and the other loss was 5-1 to them (the North Stars)," said Hahn. "We've been right there. We needed this game to contend for the conference.

"I know St. Charles East is 3-0. The last thing you want to do is go down three games. Plus, you don't want to get swept for pride."

The Vikings carried a 5-1 lead into the seventh inning and had hard-throwing senior Nick Porretto in the closer's role.

With 1 out, St. Charles North's Brendan Joyce got hit by a pitch - the North Stars' fourth batter plunked during the game.

Following a walk and strikeout, Porretto hit Kyle Novotney with a 0-1 pitch to load the bases for John Legare, who delivered an RBI single to make it 5-2.

After Cory Wright scored on a wild pitch to pull the North Stars within 5-3, Porretto fanned Tyler Mettetal on a 2-2 breaking ball to end the game.

"Before the season, we were hoping that Nick could fill that role," said Hahn. "We just haven't been in a situation to get him in the situation to play that role. He has that moxie to him. He has that personality where, 'I'm going to get you.'"

Junior starter Bryan Callaly, 1 of 5 Geneva pitchers used, worked 3 scoreless innings to pick up the win with help from Nicholas Hanson, Mark Guerrieri, Jack McCloughan and finally Porretto.

However, the bullpen by committee approach wasn't entirely by design.

"It was designed first hour today," said Hahn. "I got a text from one of our pitchers last night saying, 'my arm is a little tender,' so I said today is going to be by committee. Tomorrow (against Streamwood) will be Bret Reed and after that we'll see."

Geneva touched North Stars southpaw starter Andrew Winkelman for a first-inning run courtesy of a hit batsman, a single by Jack Wassel, a walk and an RBI infield single from Matt Simpson.

Simpson added another RBI single during a 2-run third that extended the Vikings' lead to 3-0.

Senior Tyler Madsen launched a solo home run to lead off the fifth as the North Stars got on the board.

In the bottom half of the frame, however, junior pinch hitter Mitchell Merges stroked a 1-2 breaking ball over the right-field fence for a 2-run home run that upped the Vikings' lead to 5-1.

"I was hoping for a base hit so I could keep the inning going," Merges said of his first home run of the young season. "I didn't think it was gone but I was happy about it."

"Those two runs they got in the fifth - that was big," said North Stars coach Todd Genke. "Looking back, it's a tie score otherwise. You can't hang a breaking ball.

"We kind of dug ourselves a hole there," added Genke, whose team begins a 3-game series today against West Chicago. "I didn't think we competed very well on the mound. There were too many ball 1, ball 2 counts. That's not the way we've been pitching. We'll learn from that."

Legare went 3-for-4 for the North Stars, who stranded 9 runners - 8 in scoring position.

"For the first eight games here, we've been able to get that big hit," said Genke. "We just couldn't get it today."