St. Charles North completes one-sided sweep

St. Charles North showed little mercy to Streamwood for a third consecutive date.

Four of the North Stars' 7 fifth-inning hits were for extra bases, and Brendan Joyce drove home Blake Saltsman with the last of their 6 runs in the inning on an infield single.

The result was a third straight slaughter-rule win for the North Stars' baseball team in Upstate Eight Conference River action on Thursday in St. Charles.

With its 10-0 shutout victory, St. Charles North improved to 14-3 overall and 7-2 in the league.

Streamwood is 3-14, 2-7.

Most important, the North Stars forged a tie with St. Charles East for the River lead when the latter fell to Geneva.

Tyler Mettetal was dominant for the North Stars on the mound.

The southpaw kept the Sabres' batters at bay with a bewildering array of off-speed pitches.

"I didn't throw that many fastballs," said Mettetal who allowed only a Zach Campbell first-inning triple and a Jack Jose Aguilar single in the fifth. "Just a lot of curveball-slider mix-ups. It's a lot easier (pitching with the lead). The whole order came through today (offensively)."

"Tyler is a pretty special arm," St. Charles North coach Todd Genke said. "He is only a sophomore but can go out there and compete with the best of them."

The bottom of the North Stars' order was particularly potent.

Kyle Khoury tripled to lead off the North Stars' 3-run second; the North Stars' senior catcher also added a double in his final at-bat in the fifth inning.

Saltsman followed a 2-run double by Tyler Madsen with the last of three straight extra-base hits with another RBI double.

Saltsman and Cory Wright had run-scoring singles for St. Charles North in the second inning to stake Mettetal to a 4-0 lead.

The North Stars' No. 6 through No. 9 batters - Khoury, Madsen, Saltsman and Luke Corcoran - accounted for half of the 12 St. Charles North hits.

"I thought the bottom of the order really did come through," Saltsman said. "We saw the ball really well today. I thought we had really good approaches at the plate."

Kyle Novotney had a run-scoring triple for St. Charles North in the fateful fifth.

But Streamwood starter Alvaro Alvarez could have been around much longer.

The right-hander pitched admirably in the third and fourth innings after a series of defensive misplays put the Sabres in an early hole.

"Junior pitched a good game," Streamwood coach Ryan Lasoto said. "Our starters have deserved a lot better. At last I counted, we have given up more than 40 unearned runs. We definitely have to clean that up to keep our pitcher in the game."