advertisement

Baseball: St. Charles East holds off South Elgin

Host St. Charles East hung on for dear life to defeat comeback-minded South Elgin 13-10 in a Class 4A baseball regional semifinal Thursday.

Senior relief pitcher Brett Brueske sent the Saints to Saturday's regional title game when he buried a breaking ball in the dirt to strike out swinging South Elgin junior Ben Hetelle, who represented the potential tying run with runners at the corners. Hetelle cracked a 3-run home run in his previous at-bat.

Brueske's strikeout allowed St. Charles East (23-9-1) to exhale. The Saints led 10-0 after two innings and 13-5 through five. They collected 11 hits and scored 5 unearned runs with the help of 4 errors by South Elgin (15-8-1).

"As long as the bats are there we're going to be in the game, so it was nice to see all those runs early," said St. Charles East leadoff man John DelloStritto, who went 2-for-5, doubled and scored twice.

The victory sets the stage for Saturday's 11 a.m. regional championship tilt between No. 5 St. Charles East and No. 13 Marmion Academy (15-18), which defeated No. 5 Batavia 5-0 Thursday. The Cadets finished third in Class 3A a year ago and compete in the highly competitive Chicago Catholic League Blue Division.

"They're in a tough conference and they've been going toe to toe with some of the big dogs in the state," St. Charles East coach Len Asquini said. "They're battle tested so we're going to have to be sharp all the way around in order to walk out with a regional title on Saturday."

The Saints came out of the gate hot against No. 12 South Elgin. They scored 5 first-inning runs on 2 hits and 2 walks against Storm junior starting pitcher Joey Teschke. Four runs were unearned due to 2 South Elgin errors.

St. Charles East added 5 second-inning runs to stake starting pitcher Jeremy Cox (8-0) to a 10-0 cushion. That outburst was keyed by Charlie Charpentier's 3-run triple to the right-center field gap off DuPage Training Academy travel-ball teammate Matt Sweitzer, who entered in relief with one out in the first inning.

"We just kept pounding the first two innings and we were carrying some good momentum," Charpentier said, "especially when you've got Cox pitching a complete shutout the first four innings."

Cox didn't allow a hit until the fifth, when South Elgin's offense awoke. Three outs from losing by the slaughter rule, the Storm rallied for 5 runs and got back in the game. The inning was fueled by, a walk, an error and 2 hits. Senior Ryan Dominick led off with a single, and junior Austin Doty doubled home a run and later scored on a wild pitch to trim the deficit to 10-5.

"We never give up," Dominick said.

Senior Nate Gomez took the mound in relief and gave the Storm cover to mount a comeback. Making only his second pitching appearance this season, Gomez lasted 3⅓ innings and struck out 5 of the 15 batters he faced.

However, in the fifth inning the Saints touched Gomez for 3 earned runs on 3 hits and a walk. Moreover, Gomez and South Elgin coach Jim Kating were both ejected in the fifth inning for arguing a play at the plate. Courtesy runner Jude Clodi was ruled safe due to obstruction by the Storm catcher, who was ruled to have blocked the runners path to the plate without the ball in hand.

"A couple of calls went their way at the end," Dominick said. "I don't want to blame it on that, but it just kind of takes the momentum out of it."

The Storm drew within 13-10 with two outs in the seventh inning on Garrett Wano's 2-run double, but Brueske struck out the next batter to end it.

Wano (2-for-3), Doty and Patrick Keaty doubled for South Elgin.

St. Charles East's Thomas Schroeder went 2-for-3 with 2 doubles and 2 RBI and scored twice, Cole Conn had 2 hits and knocked in a run and Pat Griffin finished 2-for-3 with 2 RBI and scored twice.

  St. Charles East's Jeremy Cox delivers a pitch against South Elgin during Thursday's regional action in St. Charles. Rick West/rwest@dailyherald.com
  St. Charles East's John DelloStritto, right, gets congratulated by teammate Thomas Schroeder after a run against South Elgin during Thursday's regional action in St. Charles. Rick West/rwest@dailyherald.com
  South Elgin's Austin Doty is pumped up after an RBI double against St. Charles East during Thursday's regional action in St. Charles. Rick West/rwest@dailyherald.com
  St. Charles East's Charlie Charpentier hits a bases-clearing triple in the second inning against South Elgin during Thursday's regional action in St. Charles. Rick West/rwest@dailyherald.com
  South Elgin's Nate Gomez pitches in relief against St. Charles East during Thursday's regional action in St. Charles. Rick West/rwest@dailyherald.com
Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.