St. Edward 7, Aurora Christian 6

The slipper still fits the St. Edward baseball team, even after Aurora Christian nearly knocked it off in the Eagles' final at-bat Thursday.

The Green Wave might be 8-12, but their season is still alive, now one win away from a regional championship.

"We're the tournament Cinderella with the losing record," St. Edward coach Gene Belmonte beamed. "Hopefully we'll sneak up on a couple more people."

The next team for fifth-seed St. Edward to sneak up on is No. 2 seed Lisle (14-13) in Saturday's Class 2A Aurora Christian regional final.

The Green Wave got there with a 7-6 win over Aurora Christian (15-8) Thursday afternoon in the regional semifinals at Waubonsee Community College in Sugar Grove.

St. Edward scored twice in the second and four times in the third to grab a 6-0 lead. They were in control the entire way until the Eagles rallied for four runs in the bottom of the seventh.

Jim Fraczek picked up his first save of the year, retiring Aurora Christian's Tony Romero and his .500 batting average on a grounder to third with the bases loaded.

"I felt pretty confident," said catcher Kyle Horn, the only St. Edward player with 2 hits. "I didn't feel like at any time we were going to lose or anything. That never crossed my mind."

Only 2 of the 6 runs St. Edward scored against Aurora Christian starter David Zielke (4-2) were earned. With two outs and nobody on in the second, Zielke walked the Green Wave's No. 7-8-9 hitters to load the bases, then two runs came in on a throwing error.

St. Edward knocked Zielke out with its 4-run third. Mike Kondrath ripped a home run to right field and Kyle Tourtellott added an RBI double, but again the Eagles' defense let them down. They made 5 errors in the first 3 innings.

"We didn't help him (Zielke) out," Aurora Christian coach Andy Zorger said. "It took us a couple innings to get in our rhythm. It's tough, it's real frustrating. For the last three weeks we've been playing phenomenally defensively. Today we come out a little nervous, jittery, throwing the ball around a little bit."

St. Edward starter Riley Coleman (3-4) allowed single runs in the fifth and sixth innings. He scattered 13 hits but escaped serious trouble until the seventh.

His defense made one good play after another, including a double play when the Eagles had the bases loaded and one out in the third. Second baseman T.J. Madzy caught a liner and flipped to shortstop Anthony Bauer to end the threat.

"I thought it was just a heads-up play, not only give credit for him (Madzy) spearing the line drive but give credit to the shortstop for being there to make the double up," Belmonte said. "That was a huge, huge play."

Aurora Christian outhit St. Edward 13-8. Matt Morse relieved Zielke and held the Green Wave to 1 run over 4½ innings of relief.

That gave the Eagles a chance to rally in the seventh, and they did sending 10 batters to the plate.

Coleman finally left with one out and runners at first and third after the Eagles had closed within 7-6 and he had thrown 121 pitches.

"My arm was just dead," Coleman said.

"We made all the defensive plays. We hit well and put together a good game."

Fraczek, who will come back and pitch Saturday, induced a comebacker, walked a batter, and then got Romero to leave the bases loaded.

"Fraczek came in and did a great job," Belmonte said. "We let him (Coleman) stay in there as long as we could because they really weren't hitting him that hard. He wiggled off the hook a couple times."

Zielke led Aurora Christian going 4-for-4. Every starter had at least 1 hit.

The Eagles rebounded this year to take second in the Private School League after finishing next to last the previous year.

"We could have rolled over, we could have gave up down 6-0, but our kids really battled and had a chance to win," Zorger said. "I'm so proud of them."

Marmion 3, Aurora Central Catholic 0: Tim Milroy hurled a no-hitter for the Cadets (13-8, 10-3), striking out eight and allowing 1 walk. CJ Foster scored the go-ahead run in the second. The Chargers dropped to 11-15.

St. Charles North 4, South Elgin 1:ŒDanny Jimenez was in control from start to finish, taking a no-hitter into the seventh. He limited the Storm to 2 hits and 1 run. At bat, he went 2-for-3 and scored twice. Brian De la Torriente and Zach Vouros both had 2 hits for the North Stars (22-8, 18-6).

St. Charles East 4, Streamwood 0: Saints starter Kyle Wiebe pitched 6½ innings, allowing 6 hits and no runs. Mike Hoscheit batted 2-for-4 and hit his eighth home run of the year for the Saints (16-13-1, 15-8-1).

Batavia 7, Yorkville 3: Jordan Coffey nailed a bases-loaded double in the third inning, giving the Bulldogs (16-12, 11-9) an early 3-run lead. Mike Sentman threw a complete game, striking out six and improving to 2-0.

DeKalb 3, Kaneland 2: The Knights fell to 16-10 overall and 12-9 in the WSC. Joe Guran had 2 hits for Kaneland.

Sycamore 8, Geneva 0: Cory Hofstetter and Justin Doty doubled for Geneva (18-9, 11-9).

West Aurora 4, West Chicago 2:ŒChris Richter, Nate Strusz, and Brandon Lawrence all delivered RBI singles in the second inning for West Aurora (16-14, 8-12). Will Fuentes allowed 2 runs over 6 innings for his fifth win.

Softball

Aurora Christian 20, Phoenix Military Academy 0: The No. 6 Eagles (6-15) advanced to the 2A Westmont regional title game where they will play No. 2 Westmont Saturday.

Naomi Haas dominated the No. 3 Firebirds. On the mound she shut them out, striking out 12. At the plate she went 2-for-3 with a triple and a home run.

Megan Cryder batted 4-for-5 with a pair of doubles and 4 runs while Shannah Morris went 5-for-5 with 5 RBI, 2 doubles and 3 runs.

St. Charles North 3, Wheaton Warrenville South 2: Christy Engel scattered 5 hits over 7 innings in the North Stars' (21-11) victory.

St. Charles East 2-6, Elgin 0-3: The Saints swept a UEC twinbill, raising their record to 15-12-1 overall and 12-6 in conference. Rachel Edwards batted 2-for-3 with a pair of RBI in the opener. Gabby Moe's win in Game 2 gave her nine for the year.

Yorkville 4, Geneva 3: The Vikings scored three runs in the sixth. Melissa Barber and Nikki Davis both doubled for Geneva (13-12, 6-7).

Rosary 5, Naperville North 1: The Royals improved to 16-10 with their nonconference win in Naperville. Colleen VanBogaert went 2-for-4 and Andi DeKing and Jessica Fortier both doubled.