St. Francis' Whelton whacks 2 HRs

Brett Whelton sensed the momentum at school all day on Tuesday.

He carried it with him to the ballpark that afternoon.

The St. Francis junior catcher homered twice and drove in 5 runs as the Spartans rolled to an 11-2 victory over Montini in Lombard.

It was a far different game than Monday's back-and-forth tussle that saw St. Francis (11-7) rally to beat the Broncos (11-10) with 2 runs in the bottom of the seventh. In Tuesday's rematch Whelton's 3-run shot in the top of the first inning set the tone for a great day at the plate for the Spartans.

"The atmosphere in school was great, so I thought for sure (Monday's) win carried over," Whelton said. "We were all pumped to get another one against them. We feel pretty good. We have a lot of momentum right now."

St. Francis continually kept pressure on Montini and scored in five of the seven innings. The Broncos did themselves no favors by committing 4 errors that led to 8 unearned runs, including 5 of the first 6 runs as the Spartans pulled away.

Whelton added a solo shot to lead off the fifth inning and singled home another run in the sixth. Tim Lilly, Will Purdom, Tim Sullivan and Theo Lamperis also drove in runs.

Montini tried keeping pace with lone runs in the third and fifth inning on Jake Pestel's sacrifice fly and Jordan Lazowski's RBI single. Each time, however, St. Francis answered with 3 runs in the top of the next inning.

"I just need to do a better job of getting these guys ready to play because that certainly wasn't our best effort," said Montini coach Rich Janor. "Unearned runs, mental mistakes, errors. We just can't afford those mistakes against a good team."

Lamperis won on the mound in his first start of the season for the Spartans, who turned three double plays keyed by shortstop Jason Sullivan. Lamperis scattered 6 hits in 6 innings before being relieved by Colin Wisted for a scoreless seventh.

The three-game series concludes Wednesday in Wheaton when the Spartans go for the sweep and their sixth straight win.

"I always feel like there's carry-over," said Spartans coach Nick Hall. "That's why I always tell the kids that when we get momentum in our dugout, let's keep it in our dugout."

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