St. Charles North 2, Glenbard North 1

St. Charles North senior pitcher Danny Jimenez walked out to the mound for his seventh inning of work Wednesday afternoon at the Class AA Elk Grove Regional against Glenbard North.

Already having struck out 11 batters, Jimenez still found himself in a 1-1 ballgame, needing three more outs to give his team a chance for the win in the bottom half of the inning.

"I just wanted to get us back in the dugout with a chance to win the game," Jimenez said of his final inning of work. "I knew we could get that last push and come through in one of the innings."

So what does an ace like Jimenez do in that situation with the season on the line? Simple. He continues to do what he has been doing all day: striking out batters.

Jimenez (8-1) mowed down two more for a total of 13 strikeouts on the day. After getting shortstop Austin Safranski to ground out, all he could do was watch from the dugout and hope his team picked him up with the winning run like he had predicted.

Pick him up they certainly did by executing in the seventh with textbook baseball.

St. Charles North started off the inning with a bit of luck on a misplayed ball in right field off the bat of Brian De la Torriente that got him into second base. Matt Stevens followed with a fly ball to advance the runner to third, then sophomore Mike Budka delivered a game-winning single to right.

The end result was a 2-1 nail-biter of a victory for the North Stars who advance to the regional final Saturday.

"It was a great feeling coming in here," Jimenez added. "I just tried to get ahead of the batters, throw strikes, and keep my team in the game."

Jimenez finished his impressive outing allowing 1 run on 5 hits, in addition to his 13 strikeouts.

"Danny Jimenez was lights out today," North Stars coach Todd Genke said. "We play with a ton of confidence with him on the mound. Danny can reach back and get a strikeout at any time and that does wonders for a team."

The North Stars got on the board early in the bottom half of the first with a leadoff single by second basemen Sam Weinberg, a hit and run executed to perfection by center fielder Jake Thornton, and an RBI sacrifice fly from shortstop Ryan Richardson.

Glenbard North pitcher Steve Cocat (6½ innings, 4 hits) would not allow another hit until the top of the sixth inning.

Glenbard North catcher Alex Mullendore cracked a Jimenez fastball over the left center fence for a solo home run, tying the game at one.

Jimenez would prove to be too much for the Panthers to handle.

Glenbard North, who came into Wednesday regional semis having won their last 12 games, exhibited why they have been successful as of late.

"This is a tough game to lose obviously, but coming from where we were (early in the season) is phenomenal," Panthers coach Mike Franzen said.

"Our players have to hold their heads up. We were the best kept secret in DuPage County."