Mistakes leave N. Stars with split at Lake Park
St. Charles North and Lake Park both had reasons to think they should have swept Saturday's baseball doubleheader in Roselle.
At the same time, they both understood why they split it.
After talented North Stars lefty Danny Jimenez gutted out a 6-5 win in the opener, Lake Park bounced back to claim a 6-3 Game 2 victory behind sophomore Kevin Miller, pitching only his second varsity game.
"It's a roller-coaster ride, mentally and emotionally," said St. Charles North coach Todd Genke. "I'm very disappointed in a split. We had too many mental mistakes today, and you just can't do that against a good team."
In Game 1, three second-inning errors pushed Lake Park (13-9, 9-7) to a 2-0 lead on Ryan Wegner's suicide squeeze bunt and on a first-and-third double steal where Mike Ostrowski stole home.
A pair of Lake Park errors helped the North Stars score 4 runs in the top of the third. Matt Stevens' 2-run single sparked the rally. K.C. Wright and Brandon Nothnagel singled home runs to give St. Charles North (14-6, 10-4) a 6-2 lead heading to the bottom of the seventh.
Then things got crazy. With the bases loaded and two out, Lake Park's Matt Kennedy blooped a 3-run double down the right-field line that the umpire ruled fair as it landed right near the foul line.
With the tying run in scoring position, Jimenez (4-1) -- who allowed no earned runs -- notched his 13th strikeout to preserve the win.
"We took it hard in the first game, we felt we should have won it," said Lancers first baseman Brian Serrano. "We made some defensive mistakes, and our coach gave us a little speech in between games. That got us ready for the second game."
In Game 2 Miller (2-0) gave up a first-inning run on Jake Thornton's RBI groundout, but he followed with three scoreless innings to allow his team to grab control at 3-1. Two runs scored on Serrano's fourth-inning single.
The Lancers moved ahead 5-2 in the fifth on run-scoring singles by Wegner and Kennedy. Ben Coleman extended the lead to 6-2 with his sixth-inning home run.
Ryan Richardson, who went 3-for-4 with 2 RBI in Game 2, pulled St. Charles North within 6-3 with an RBI double in the seventh.
"We're a much better team than how we played in the second game," Jimenez said. "We expected a sweep, and we just didn't come out prepared in the second game."
Miller struck out four, walked two and scattered 10 hits in a complete game.
"I kind of gave the guys the business a little bit after the first game," said Lancers coach Dan Colucci. "I was happy they came out and responded in Game 2."