Geneva snaps St. Charles East's 10-game streak

Geneva baseball coach Matt Hahn is taking a little different approach this season.

With his team hovering near the .500 mark through the first few weeks, Hahn is as focused on the big picture than a game-by-game basis.

"We're right there," said Hahn. "I told the kids don't worry about your record. Our job is to make sure you're ready come playoff time."

Postseason play is more than a month away but the Vikings (7-6, 4-4) showed they're not about to go away quietly during Wednesday's bone-chilling 3-1 Upstate Eight Conference River Division victory over St. Charles East (12-3, 7-1) in Geneva.

Junior left-hander Mitchell Merges (1-1) limited the Saints to just 2 hits over 6 innings with 4 walks and 6 strikeouts while senior right-hander Nick Porretto pitched a scoreless seventh to record the save.

"Mitchell didn't have his best stuff today," said Hahn. "He was effectively wild but he found a way. A couple times he had to wiggle out of jams as you ask your pitchers to do."

Walks to Corbin Marucco and Jake Asquini coupled with a 2-out wild pitch allowed the Saints to put the tying run at second in the seventh before Porretto induced a groundball to shortstop Jack Wassel for the final out.

"I definitely enjoy it - it's fun," Porretto said of the closer's role. "I just kind of forget it. I imagine I'm starting from the beginning - nobody on and no score."

It was an exciting end of an interesting day for Porretto, who laced a ball to the right-center power alley for what appeared to be a double during his first at-bat in the second.

However, he was eventually ruled out for failing to step on first base after the Saints appealed to the base umpire.

"I thought I definitely touched it because I kind of stumbled," said Porretto. "My first-base coach said my foot dragged and missed it but I thought my foot hit the front of the base."

St. Charles East took a 1-0 lead in the second when Max Powers stroked a 1-out double and scored on an outfield error.

The Vikings responded with a pair of third-inning runs off Saints senior right-hander Kyle Cook.

Merges (2-for-3) led off with a single and raced to third on a perfectly executed hit-and-run by junior Justin Hasegawa, who took second on the play on an error.

"Those are the kinds of things we're going to have to do," Hahn said of the hit-and-run. "Justin's been doing it all year. In most years, Justin could be our leadoff hitter but (Jason) Croci has been doing it now for two years. It's nice to have that and to have Croci and Wassel coming up after that."

Croci drove in an insurance run in the fourth with a single between third and short.

The Saints, who had their 10-game winning streak snapped, put a pair of runners on in each of the last 2 innings before coming up empty. St. Charles East left 8 on base.

"We had plenty of opportunities there," said Saints coach Len Asquini. "We just couldn't get it done.

"I didn't like our approach or our lack of interest a little bit out here. We weren't here today. If you don't come out and attack, you're going to lose or get lucky to win. We didn't get lucky today. Hopefully it will help us refocus."

The teams will finish the 3-game series today in St. Charles.

"Our record might not be where it is has been in recent years at this point but I like the way we're playing baseball," said Hahn.