Baseball: St. Charles North's late explosion nets 3rd straight regional title
St. Charles North baseball coach Todd Genke said he never doubted his prolific offense would eventually carry the day despite being shut out for five innings by Wheaton North pitcher Sam Lawrence in Hoffman Estates Saturday.
The top-seeded North Stars rewarded their coach's optimism in the bottom of the sixth by erupting for 6 earned runs against the Northwestern-bound left-hander to overwhelm No. 9 Wheaton North 6-1 in a Class 4A regional final.
The regional title is the third straight for the North Stars, who last season were eliminated in a sectional semifinal by Glenbard North by the same 1-0 score they trailed by for five innings Saturday.
"We've got a lot of senior leaders on this team," Genke said. "I just felt like they weren't going to allow it to happen. They weren't going to allow us to lose."
The heart of the St. Charles North order ignited the rally. No. 2 hitter Zach Mettetal led off with a single to right field, Kyle Novotney was beaned by a Lawrence pitch and John LeGare singled to left to load the bases.
Next up was third baseman Sam Faith, who broke open what had been a pitcher's duel between Lawrence and St. Charles North left-hander Jack Lambert. Behind in the count 1-2 with no outs, Faith laced a line drive over Wheaton North center fielder Zach Colangelo's head all the way to the wall to clear the bases.
"I was just trying to get a team swing on a pitch, any pitch I could just to score one run," Faith said. "But he made a mistake toward the end and I took advantage. I got through it and drove it to the fence."
Conor Bizik continued the rally with a basehit to left field, scoring Faith for a 4-1 St. Charles North lead.
Lawrence (6-3) struck out the No. 8 hitter for the last of his 10 strikeouts, but he was lifted after issuing a walk to No. 9 hitter Erik Rabin. Two more runs came around to score on a sacrifice fly by Luke Corcoran and a double steal.
All 6 St. Charles North earned runs in the sixth inning were charged to Lawrence, who until that point had handcuffed the North Stars on 3 hits.
"Sam was outstanding. He really was," Wheaton North coach Dan Schoessling said. "When you're playing a great team, they're not going to get cheated up there. They proved why they are the No. 1 seed with how they approached that sixth inning. They got guys on base, executed and got guys in. They threatened a couple of other times but Sammy was lights out. It just wasn't meant to be in that sixth inning."
The rally made a winner of Lambert. The senior threw a 4-hitter with no walks and 9 strikeouts. Ticketed for Parkland College next year after he missed his entire junior season due to injury, Lambert improved to 12-1, backed by an errorless defense.
"I was just getting ahead in the count, using my off-speed pitches and making them put balls in play," he said. 'Our fielding is great out there. Just throwing strikes and letting them pitch to contact helps a lot."
The North Stars advance to a Schaumburg sectional semifinal on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m. They will face Lake Park, which prevailed 4-3 over Willowbrook in nine innings to win the regional it hosted.
"Winning three regionals in a row is pretty special," Genke said. I can't wait to get to the sectional because last year's 1-0 loss was really hard to swallow. A lot of these guys left the field in tears. We know how that feels. With Jack Lambert and a couple of other guys on the mound, we know we can swing the bats. We're going to be ready, no question."
Wheaton North jumped to a 1-0, first-inning lead. Ryan Muehlfelt opened the game with a single, stole second and scored on a groundout by Matt Becker. That was it offensively for Wheaton North (19-15).