Baseball: St. Charles North breaks through

The monkey is off St. Charles North's back ... barely.

St. Charles North has had four 30-win teams since 2007 play in the sectionals. All of them failed to bring home the plaque that the North Stars finally clutched Saturday after a come-from-behind 4-3 win over a Batavia team that more than lived up to its Battlin' Bulldogs nickname in the final game of coach Matt Holm's 24-year career.

Senior John LeGare, who went 3-for-3 in the win, has seen many of those talented North Star teams fall short.

"It's an unbelievable feeling to be a part of North Star history, to do something no other North Star team has done especially with the quality teams we've had throughout the years," LeGare said. "We had to keep believing. We couldn't press. We couldn't get too worried. We knew we were going to come back."

After receiving the sectional plaque, players quickly handed it over to coach Todd Genke who has seen more than his share of heartbreak trying for that elusive sectional crown. Genke hoisted the plaque high in the air, smiling from ear to ear.

"I'm glad it didn't rain today and it didn't rain on our parade," Genke said. "This is a special thing for these kids and our school and our program. This one we'll cherish for a long time."

St. Charles North (31-6) will play New Trier at 5 p.m. Monday at Boomers Stadium in Schaumburg, looking to keep the firsts going with its first trip to state. The Trevians defeated the North Stars 1-0 last month.

No. 7 seed Batavia (24-12) nearly played spoiler against the top-seeded North Stars, grabbing a 3-2 lead on Tyler Kledzik's 2-run home run in the top of the fifth.

Kledzik's blast came off junior Ryan Litavecz. After Kyle Niemiec singled, Genke brought in closer Christian Sidoti who promptly walked the next two hitters to load the bases with 2 outs.

Sidoti found the strike zone just in time, striking out Luke Beckmann to leave the bases loaded and the North Stars within a run.

"I was waiting for something I could drive and I hit it solid," Kledzik said. "I thought we were going to keep rolling. Every playoff game we've had one big inning scoring 8 or 7 runs. We were one hit away from breaking the game open."

Instead, the wheels came off defensively in the bottom of the fifth.

With normal shortstop Jared Martin pitching in relief of Luke Golson, Luke Corcoran started the inning beating out a groundball to short. The Bulldogs dropped a high foul popup, and they couldn't turn a squibber to first base into an out.

All those mistakes eventually ended in Sam Faith lofting a sacrifice fly to score Corcoran to tie the game 3-3 in what could have been a 1-2-3 inning.

The North Stars scored the winning run in the sixth without hitting a ball hard against Martin. Catcher Erik Rabin walked and alertly took second when ball four got past the Batavia catcher and he couldn't immediately find it.

Leadoff hitter Brendan Joyce made the Bulldogs pay, chopping a ball to third base that bounced over 6-foot-5 Glenn Albanese, Jr. into left field to score pinch runner Jake Chantos.

"I was really early on it, I was reading fastball and it was a curve," Joyce said. "I rolled over a little. Thank God the field was a little bumpy."

Sidoti survived another long fly by Kledzik that LeGare caught at the fence in the seventh, then struck out Niemiec and Albanese, Jr. to send the North Stars flying out of the dugout to celebrate the long-awaited sectional crown.

"The difference between last year and this year and games like this is our coach scheduled a lot tougher games," Joyce said. "I feel that helped us a lot more right now. We were talking in the outfield when we changed pitchers we knew were going to win."

The North Stars took a 2-0 lead with runs in the first and third. Joyce was hit by a pitch and scored on a sacrifice fly by Zach Mettetal, who took at least three hits away from Batavia with highlight-reel plays at shortstop.

Kyle Novotney drove in the second run with a single in the third. Batavia pulled within 2-1 on Beckmann' RBI single in the fourth, then had the North Stars on the ropes after Kledzik's 2-run blast in the fifth.

But St. Charles North finally found a way.

"We had to battle some adversity," Genke said. "These kids don't give up. They love playing the game and being together and to win this year is so special. We've been calling it (the sectional) the glass ceiling for years. We keep hitting our head on it and couldn't bust through and finally with some special efforts today we were able to do it."