Baseball: Alvarado, South Elgin hold off St. Charles East
While his teammates are preparing for the final week of the regular season, South Elgin's Kyle Alvarado is simply trying to regain his hitting stroke after suffering a broken bone in his left hand.
If Saturday's game is any indication, Alvarado appears to be rounding into form.
The junior infielder enjoyed a perfect day at the plate, going 2 for 2 with a walk and 4 RBI during South Elgin's 5-3 Upstate Eight Conference crossover victory over St. Charles East (21-9, 16-5) in St. Charles.
"I'm just trying to get my timing down," said Alvarado, who incurred the injury after being hit by a pitch earlier in the year. "This is my third game back since breaking my hand. I was just trying to hit the ball hard - square it up."
His first hit wasn't a smash but it worked out perfectly, as a 2-out bloop single to right drove in a pair of first-inning runs against Saints starting pitcher Matt Breidigan.
"He (Breidigan) threw a good pitch and I battled it off," said Alvarado. "It got in on my hands a little and I just blooped it out there."
In the third, Alvarado stroked a 2-run double to center as the Storm (17-6, 14-2) upped the lead to 4-0.
"Kyle just came back from breaking his hand and obviously he made big contributions today at the plate with the four RBI," said Storm coach Jim Kating.
South Elgin added a fourth-inning run on Justin Howard's RBI groundout while senior southpaw Joe Roberson limited the Saints to just 1 hit through the first four frames.
St. Charles East closed the gap with a 3-run fifth.
Senior catcher Anthony Adduci led off with a single and courtesy runner Brendan Benvenuti came across on Monty Carbonell's RBI single. John Carroll's RBI double down the left-field line and Corbin Marucco's RBI single made it 5-3.
However, sophomore Nate Gomez worked the final 2⅓ innings to earn the save as South Elgin remains locked in a first-place battle with Glenbard East in the UEC Valley.
The two teams begin a crucial 3-game series Monday in Lombard.
"Every win is a big win," said Kating. "We were scheduled to play a doubleheader today but our afternoon game with West Chicago was postponed. Now we're going Monday through Saturday next week. We've got a good test in front of us."
Breidigan allowed just 2 earned runs over 5 innings before relievers Dillon Halleran and Stevie Podany each tossed a scoreless inning.
"The margin of error obviously shrinks when you play a good team like that," said Saints coach Len Asquini. "Look at what happened against Jacobs, Glenbard East and again today - we made a couple mistakes that were real costly and run-producing.
"On the mound, we certainly got it done. Defensively, we made a couple mistakes that pushed those runs across."
The Saints find themselves in an uphill battle in the UEC River race, as St. Charles North (24-4, 19-1) clinched a share of the conference title with Saturday's 10-1 win over West Aurora.
The crosstown rivals begin a 3-game series Monday night at Fifth Third Ballpark.
"We're looking to play a clean game and we'll see where the chips fall," said Asquini.