Baseball: St. Charles North blitzes Glenbard North

Big first innings have a way of alleviating the pressures of playing postseason baseball.

St. Charles North (30-4) sent 13 batters to the plate during an exhilarating 9-run first and scored add-on runs in the second and third innings in its 12-0, 5-inning Class 4A regional championship dismantling of Glenbard North (14-20) Saturday afternoon in St. Charles.

Living up to their top seeding, the North Stars took a 2-0 lead on Sean Krueger's 2-run single, extended it to 3-0 on an RBI single by Brenden Norberg (3 for 3) and added 6 more runs before the upset-minded Panthers' fielders finally headed to the dugout.

"I've said it all season - our lineup just keeps coming at you," said North Stars coach Todd Genke, whose team earned its fourth straight regional title. "We finally had a nice day to hit and our guys were ready to go."

Conor Bizik, Zach Mettetal (double) and Tyler Mettetal also had RBI hits in the first inning while Delisi added a 2-run single - in his second at-bat of the inning.

"We came into the playoffs struggling a little bit at the plate from the (St. Charles) East series," said Norberg. "A couple practices got us going and we've been hitting on all cylinders."

Glenbard North's Nick Frawley opened the game with a single before North Stars pitcher Weston Muir induced the next batter to hit into a 1-6-3 double play.

"It started off well - Frawley comes up and ropes a single to right-center and then we rolled into a double play," said Panthers coach Rich Smelko.

"It was a rough first inning but give credit to those guys. They were hitting balls hard all over the field."

Three first-inning errors didn't help the Panthers' cause.

"We misplayed some balls," said Smelko. "You can't give any teams extra outs especially great teams because they'll make you pay and that's what they did today."

Sam Faith bashed a 2-run home run to cap the scoring for the North Stars, who advance to Wednesday's 5:30 p.m. Lake Park sectional semifinals against South Elgin at Boomers Stadium in Schaumburg.

"We talked about how important hosting a regional was and being able to win a regional on our home field," said Genke. "To be able to win four regionals in a row is pretty special. These kids are excited but they're already talking about Wednesday."

Muir retired the last 11 batters he faced before Jason Shanner worked a 1-2-3 fifth.

"Maybe the biggest part of this day was Weston Muir," said Genke. "He's a kid who hasn't thrown a lot this year because he was battling some injuries early on but he came to play today."

Playing the final home game of his illustrious 4-year career, shortstop Zach Mettetal pocketed his fourth consecutive regional crown.

"It's an awesome feeling," said Mettetal, who walked in his last at-bat. "I told the coaches, 'I'm not ending my career here on a popup (in the second inning). I walked so it was a good way to end it."