Baseball: St. Charles North, Huntley wear favorite tag

St. Charles North and Huntley are among the Fox Valley area baseball teams to beat when the IHSA Class 4A tournament begins next week.

St. Charles North (23-2), winner of 11 straight games heading into this week's 3-game series against St. Charles East (15-8-1), earned the top seed in the 21-team Bartlett sectional, followed by York (19-7), Wheaton North (18-11) and Batavia (17-8).

Regional games within the Bartlett sectional will be held at St. Charles East, Elk Grove, Hoffman Estates and Willowbrook. The North Stars are assigned to the Hoffman Estates regional. They open play Wednesday, May 23 at 4:30 p.m. against the winner of a Monday, May 21 play-in game between No. 18 Hoffman Estates (7-16) and No. 16 Glenbard North (8-20).

"That's a tribute to these guys," St. Charles North coach Todd Genke said of being named a No. 1 seed. "Now, you've got the target on your back, too. I think these guys are ready for that. We just want to keep playing well. And we're playing well one through nine. We're going to hit and, defensively, we're pretty solid. If we pitch the way we're capable of, good things are going to come our way, hopefully."

No. 4 Batavia is the top seed at the St. Charles East regional. The host Saints are seeded No. 5, meaning the Upstate Eight River teams could meet for a fourth time this season in a regional title game if seeds hold. The Saints won 2 of 3 against the Bulldogs last month.

For that matchup to become a reality, Batavia would have to win a Tuesday, May 22 semifinal against the winner of a May 21 play-in game between No. 20 Schaumburg (6-17) and No. 13 Marmion Academy (12-16), which bumps up to Class 4A this year.

St. Charles East opens play on Wednesday, May 23 against the winner of a May 21 play-in game between West Chicago (5-19) and South Elgin (10-7-1).

Wheaton North opens play at the Willowbrook regional on Wednesday, May 23 against the winner of the May 21 play-in between No. 17 Bartlett (9-15) and No. 14 Conant (13-12-1).

York is the top seed at Elk Grove. The Dukes open the playoffs on Wednesday, May 23 against the winner of the play-in game between No. 19 Elk Grove (8-16-1) and No. 15 Streamwood. (11-15).

Fox Valley Conference leader Huntley (23-5, 15-4) entered the week with 1½-game lead over second place McHenry (20-10, 14-6) with 5 games to play.

Huntley is assigned to the McHenry sectional, which is split between two 10-team sub-sectionals. The Red Raiders were named the top seed in sub-sectional B, followed by Hononegah (15-9), Rockford East (17-3) and Harlem (13-10-1). Barrington (19-5-2) is the top seed in sub-sectional A.

"We went 5-0 against teams in our sub-sectional so we took care of business," Huntley coach Andy Jakubowski said. "We beat Hononegah (3-0) and Rockford East (11-6) and we won three against Hampshire. We're happy with where we're at."

Huntley opens the playoffs on Wednesday, May 23 against the winner of a May 21 play-in game between Rockford Jefferson (2-13) and No. 7 Belvidere North (11-12).