Baseball: Big innings propel Batavia past St. Charles East
The two times St. Charles East gave Kyle Niemiec a free pass to start an inning, Batavia made the Saints pay dearly.
The Bulldogs' baseball team scored in only two innings in its Upstate Eight Conference River game Wednesday afternoon in St. Charles, but Batavia sent a dozen men each both the second and fifth innings.
Niemiec started off both innings with a hit-by-pitch and infield fielding error, respectively.
The Bulldogs' senior had run-scoring doubles to cap a 6-run second and 8-run fifth as Batavia cruised to a 14-6 victory.
"It happens to us all the time," Niemiec said of an opposition big inning beginning without benefit of a base hit. "You make mistakes, and good teams will capitalize. That's what you can't do against good teams is give them the momentum."
Batavia starter Luke Golson went six innings to earn his second win against no losses for the Bulldogs (9-5, 4-4).
He and St. Charles East starter Niko Klebosits each retired the side in order to start the game.
But neither team played well defensively in the second inning.
The teams combined for 9 runs, but only Niemiec and the Saints' Monty Carbonell drove home runs with base hits.
All the other runs scored on wild pitches, errors and a fielder's choice at the plate.
"The errors are rearing their ugly head again," said St. Charles East coach Len Asquini, whose team committed 5 miscues on the rainy afternoon.
The Bulldogs' early lead was reduced to a mere single-run cushion when the Saints (9-6, 2-3) put up another pair - both unearned - in their half of the third.
But Batavia blew the game open by sending 12 batters to the plate for a second time in the fifth inning.
Niemiec reached on an error to start; Ben Lynam and Glenn Albanese, Jr. followed with back-to-back singles, the latter scoring Niemiec.
Batavia sacrificed on a regular basis to exploit its big innings, and the Saints' cause was further unraveled by two of their errors coming off bunts.
Luke Beckmann and Tyler Kedzik had consecutive 2-run singles for Batavia in its fifth before Niemiec rounded out the scoring with his second lined double of the game.
"We didn't make too many mistakes today," Beckmann said. "We really capitalized on those (St. Charles East) mistakes. This was huge, because we dropped a few conference games in a row. This (win) should get us back on track."
Batavia finished with 12 hits on the day as Niemiec went unretired.
"I just tried not to do too much," Niemiec said of his twin RBI-doubles.
"We were right there, we fought back," Asquini said of the Saints' early deficit. "We got back in the ballgame."