St. Charles North regroups, stops Lake Zurich

Hitting, pitching and defense will usually win ballgames and St. Charles North's baseball team had all three Saturday.

The North Stars blasted host Lake Zurich 14-3 in a nonconference game, as Jake Bergren supplied the power with 2 home runs. Winning pitcher Kevin Borst provided the pitching and defense.

Bergren led off the game by pulling Dan Johnsen's third pitch over the right-field fence. In the sixth inning, Bergren put the game away by lining a 3-run homer over the center-field fence.

"They both felt real good," said Bergren, whose homers were his first two of the season. "Today the balls looked just like beach balls. Those days are rare and, luckily, I took advantage of it."

Borst pitched 61/3 innings, giving up only 2 runs and 6 hits. He struck out a season-high 8 batters, including the side in the sixth, and hit one batter.

Josh Loynachan got the last two batters out in the seventh.

St. Charles North (7-1) also displayed good defense, as both Borst and catcher Matt Stevens picked runners off in the fourth.

"Basically, I just beared down like I do in practice and threw strikes," Borst said. "The two pickoffs were momentum changers and definitely busted their bubble."

In the top of the seventh, St. Charles North sent 10 batters to the plate and scored 7 runs on 5 hits.

Pinch hitter Dirk Schmitt slammed a 2-run double and three batters later, Matt Williams followed with a 2-RBI double of his own.

"We got beat (Friday), so it was important for us to come here and play a good team and win," St. Charles North coach Todd Genke said. "We've been playing well. But you can come to somebody's place and not play well. You get behind and suddenly you lose."

The North Stars' Chase Williams contributed 3 hits and 3 RBI. He has 15 RBI on the season.

Danny Minogue and Parker Asmann each had RBI for Lake Zurich (6-6). Johnsen made his pitching debut for the Bears by giving up 6 runs and 8 hits. He struck out two, walked three and hit two batters.

Johnsen also picked off a runner.

"(St. Charles North) is a good-hitting team and I tried to hit my spots and didn't," Johnsen said.

Lake Zurich coach Gary Simon was not happy with the way his team played.

"We had been playing with (St. Charles North,) and then in the fifth, we were horrible on the bases and that just totally set us back."