Baseball: St. Francis' home opener a big hit

Pitcher Nolan Pechan said he and his St. Francis teammates were just glad to be back on the field they call "The Don."

The Spartans opened the season with two road losses, but they returned to Don Jones Field for Friday's home opener and flourished in all aspects against Aurora Christian in an 11-1, six-inning victory.

Pechan (1-0) held the Eagles hitless and issued one walk in 5 innings and struck out 5, and the Spartans backed him with error-free defense.

Meanwhile, a St. Francis offense that managed 11 combined hits in earlier losses to Oswego East and Romeoville erupted for 10 hits in summerlike conditions. Third-year varsity shortstop Tim Sullivan went 1-for-3 with 3 RBI. Junior Matt Cooney, making his first start at second base and batting eighth, finished 3-for-4 with a run-scoring walk. Both crossed the plate twice.

"It was great to see the bats coming out, to get out of the little slump we've been in our past two games," said Sullivan, whose 2-run, second-inning single staked the Spartans to a 3-0 lead. St. Francis led 7-0 after three innings.

Don Jones Field - so dedicated in 1998 in honor of the former St. Francis baseball coach and science teacher admired by students and faculty alike for his dedication and his dry wit - wasn't as kind to Aurora Christian (1-2), a Class 1A team this season. In 2016, the Eagles won 24 games and the Northeastern Athletic Conference title but fell short of winning a regional in Class 2A. Thus, 10th-year coach Andy Zorger scheduled tougher nonconference opponents like St. Francis (1-2), which is still classified as 4A in the wake of its 2015 third-place finish in 3A.

"We're challenging ourselves in the nonconference games this year to see some better pitching," Zorger said. "Last year, part of our issue in the end was we didn't see a lot of great pitching in our conference. By the time we were facing Rockford Lutheran in the playoffs it was a bit of a different ballgame in terms of our offense. So it's going to be an adjustment but we still have some talent to do some things in our conference and in 1A."

Aurora Christian starting pitcher Jacob Brothers (1-1) absorbed the loss after allowing 5 runs (3 earned) on 4 hits and 4 walks in 2 innings. Robert Lewis had the Eagles' only hit, a two-out single in the top of the sixth that trimmed the deficit to 7-1.

However, the Spartans scored 4 runs in the bottom of the sixth to win by the 10-run rule. No. 9 hitter Tom Siurek ended the proceedings with a run-scoring single up the middle.

"We've really been preaching quality at-bats, getting your pitch in your count," said third-year St. Francis coach Nick Hall. "They did a good job of that."