Baseball: Scouting the Class 3-4A postseason in the Fox Valley

The St. Charles North baseball team held a business meeting after Saturday morning's weightlifting session.

Actually, it was more like an unfinished business meeting.

On the heels of a third-place finish in Class 4A in 2016 and a trip to the Phil Lawler Summer Classic finals, the talented, experienced North Stars are focused on returning to the state finals in Joliet and winning it all.

"We feel like we have some unfinished business," coach Todd Genke said. "We got a taste of what it's like making the trip to Joliet and we think we belong with the top schools in the state. I think we've proven that with last year's run and this year's successful season."

St. Charles North (28-4) rolled to the Upstate Eight Conference River Division title with a 22-1 record and landed the top seed in the 21-team Lake Park sectional. North hosts a regional, as do Bartlett, Addison Trail and Hoffman Estates.

The North Stars are strong in all phases, but their offense stands out. They enter the playoffs batting .361 as a team, led by a trio of future Division-I college hitters: seniors Zach Mettetal (Memphis), Tyler Mettetal (South Carolina) and Sam Faith (Missouri State).

Faith is batting a team-best .479 (35-for-73) with 7 doubles, 2 triples, 3 home runs and 34 RBI. Leadoff man Anthony Delisi has 38 hits in 90 at-bats (. 422) and has scored 41 runs. Fourth-year varsity shortstop Zach Mettetal is batting .397 (31-for-78) and Tyler Mettetal holds a .348 average (23-for-66).

From a pitching standpoint, the North Stars will rely on seniors Ryan Litavecz (6-1, 1.56 ERA) and Westin Muir (3-0, 1.33), juniors Nick Skurka (3-1, 1.36) and Steve Hamer (5-0, 1.62) and late-inning reliever Jason Shanner. He has not allowed an earned run in 9 innings over 5 appearances.

St. Charles North opens postseason play Wednesday against the winner of Monday's play-in game between No. 17 St. Francis (10-20-1) and No. 18 Streamwood (15-14). The winner advances to the final to face the winner of Thursday's semifinal between No. 7 Wheaton North (15-16) and No. 9 Glenbard North (13-19).

No. 4 South Elgin (20-4) and No. 5 Geneva (19-10) would meet for the Addison Trail regional title if seeds hold. South Elgin boasts three bona fide starting pitchers. Storm coach Jim Kating can choose between junior Nate Gomez (5-0, 0.77 ERA) and seniors Jack Stancl (5-2, 1.74) and Dylan Wells (5-1, 2.14). Gomez has struck out 54 and walked 15. He also leads the Storm with a .449 batting average (31-for-69).

No. 2 St. Charles East (21-10) is the top seed at Bartlett. Coming off a 3-game sweep at the hands of St. Charles North, the Saints aim to rebound by winning their second straight regional crown. They begin play Wednesday against the winner of No. 18 Conant (13-18) vs. No. 15 Wheaton Warrenville South (13-20).

No. 8 Bartlett (18-12) could be St. Charles East's title-game opponent if the Saints advance. The Hawks enter the playoffs having won 4 straight and 8 of their last 9, but they first must get by No. 10 Glenbard West (12-20) on Thursday. St. Charles East defeated Bartlett 3-1 on April 8.

Batavia (10-15) opens the playoffs Monday against regional host Hoffman Estates (10-16). The winner advances to Thursday's semifinal against No. 3 Willowbrook (23-8). Lake Park (13-17) and Glenbard East (16-17) square off in a Wednesday semifinal.

If the favorites emerge from all four regionals, the Lake Park sectional matchups would be St. Charles East vs. Willowbrook and South Elgin vs. St. Charles North. South Elgin tagged the North Stars with their only UEC loss on April 8 (3-2).

The 21-team McHenry sectional was split into two subsectionals by the IHSA. Regionals will be held at Hononegah, Jacobs, Hampshire and Cary-Grove.

Fox Valley Conference champion Huntley (28-5) is the top seed in subsectional B, which also includes No. 6 Hampshire (8-26-1), No. 7 DeKalb (7-25) and seven Rockford-area teams, one of which is No. 4 Hononegah (14-17). The Indians defeated Huntley 5-4 on March 27 by scoring 3 runs in the bottom of the sixth.

Huntley and Hononegah met last year in a rain-shortened regional final at Guilford. Huntley was declared a 4-3 winner after five innings. The teams would meet again in the regional final if it plays to seed.

"They have a couple of power arms and they are very well coached by coach (Matt) Simpson," Huntley coach Andy Jakubowski said. "I'm sure they want to get some revenge for that rain-shortened final."

Huntley wins with pitching and defense and just enough timely hitting. The Red Raiders hit .270 as a team, but their team ERA is 1.45 in 218 innings, largely because the staff is backed by the best defense in Jakubowski's 12 years at Huntley. The Red Raiders have committed only 32 errors in 33 games and they own a .967 team fielding percentage.

No. 2 Barrington (26-7) is the top seed at Jacobs. The Broncos and No. 3 McHenry (23-10) each have byes. On Wednesday Barrington plays the winner of Monday's play-in game between No. 10 Larkin (12-17) and No. 8 Dundee-Crown (14-17).

McHenry - which features senior pitchers Bobby Miller (Louisville) and Michael Lasiewicz (NIU) - awaits the winner of Monday's play-in between No. 11 Elgin (5-26) and No. 5 Jacobs (18-17) in a Thursday semifinal.

Jacobs got a needed boost this week from the return of senior center fielder Mike Addante. The future Nebraska Cornhusker missed a few weeks with a knee injury. He had a double and a triple, drove in 2 runs and scored twice in Thursday's 9-2 win at Dundee-Crown. Addante enters the postseason batting a team-best .338 (24-for-71) with 9 doubles, 3 triples, 3 home runs and 23 RBI. The young Golden Eagles are hitting .269 as a team.

If the Cary-Grove regional plays to seed, it would produce a regional final rematch of the just-completed Fox Valley Conference series between Crystal Lake South (28-5) and No. 4 Cary-Grove (23-9). CL South won 2 out of 3 games.

The top seed in subsectional A, the Gators play Wednesday against the winner of Monday's play-in between No. 9 Prairie Ridge (11-21) and No. 7 Crystal Lake Central (14-17). CL South swept a 3-game regular-season series against each team.

If South advances to the final, it would face the winner of Thursday's semifinal between the host Trojans and No. 6 Grant (18-12). Cary-Grove has a chance to win any game with pitchers like senior Matt McCumber (NIU) and sophomore Quinn Priester (Texas Christian). But can the Trojans field the ball well enough to win? They committed 16 errors in the CL South series as the Gators scored 26 runs

"It's definitely a goal of ours to get to (the final)," CL South coach Brian Bogda said. "Playing (Cary-Grove) again is definitely something that could happen."

No. 2 Rockford East (15-12-1) and No. 3 Belvidere North are the top seeds at the Hampshire regional. East plays the Jefferson-DeKalb first-round winner on Wednesday.

No 6. Hampshire (8-26-1) debuts against Belvidere North in a Thursday semifinal. The Whip-Purs enter the postseason batting .247. Senior Noah Schrader (. 310) is the only Hampshire player batting over .300.

If the higher seeds emerge from all four regionals, the McHenry sectional matchups would be Huntley vs. Barrington and Crystal Lake South vs. Rockford East.

The Fox Valley area's Class 3A teams will compete in the same subsectional of the Sycamore sectional with regionals contested at Aurora Central Catholic, Burlington Central, Rockford Lutheran and Rochelle.

No. 5 Marmion (15-16) is a team to watch at the ACC regional. The Cadets' record doesn't impress on the surface, but that's because they spent the majority of the season battling some of the state's elite Class 4A teams in the Chicago Catholic League.

"We have grinded with, arguably, the top six teams in the state," Marmion coach Frank Chapman said. "I think our schedule along with the talent that we have, our depth and our pitching staff puts us in position to compete with anyone."

Marmion junior Brandon McPherson (3-2) owns a 1.66 ERA in 38 innings and Eric Lundell is 3-3 with a 3.90 ERA. McPherson has struck out 52 and walked 26. Chapman said Collin Gibson (3-3, 4.07) and Nick Brummel (2-3, 3.54) will pitch Monday's play-in game against No. 11 IMSA.

Bobby Pierce leads Marmion with a .387 batting average (29-for-75). He has 8 doubles, 3 home runs and 22 RBI, all team highs.

A win advances Marmion to Wednesday's semifinal against host Aurora Central Catholic (22-9-1). The winner would likely face No. 1 Sycamore (23-9) in Saturday's regional final. No. 3 Kaneland (18-13) and No. 7 Fenton clash in Thursday's semifinal.

No. 2 Burlington Central (25-9) opens the postseason at home Wednesday against the winner of Monday's play-in between No. 10 Genoa-Kingston and No. 8 Wheaton Academy (7-14-1). The Rockets are batting .315 as a team, paced by Josh Noeska (. 408), Clay Milas (. 404), Zach Shutta (. 390), Ryan Knowlton (. 364) and David Lauber (. 354).