Waubonsie stuns St. Charles North with 22 runs
Eric Sousanes' opposite-field double to open the game ushered in a barrage the likes of which St. Charles North coach Todd Genke does not wish to witness again.
The Waubonsie Valley baseball team has struggled to find consistency early in the season, but the Warriors turned their early Upstate Eight Conference showdown into a rout of epic proportions. Waubonsie Valley sent 27 batters to the plate in its first three at-bats alone, lashing 7 extra-base hits among its season-high haul of 19 hits in routing the North Stars 22-6 in a five-inning game Thursday afternoon in St. Charles.
"We're starting to swing the bats real well," Waubonsie Valley coach Dan Fezzuoglio said.
"That may be the most lopsided loss we've ever had here," Genke said.
Sousanes, Sam Carius and Jeff Brown all went the other way with a double, home run and triple, respectively, in staking the Warriors to a 4-0 first-inning lead.
Matt Stevens' run-scoring double put the North Stars on the board in the first, but the Warriors' carnage was only beginning. Waubonsie Valley (5-5 overall, 3-2 in the Upstate Eight) capitalized on the North Stars' ineffectiveness in either finding the plate or capturing too much of it.
The first six Waubonsie Valley players to coax walks all scored; the Warriors built a commanding 11-1 lead in the second inning as starting pitcher Kris Singh plated a pair with a double to conclude their 7-run outburst. It was textbook baseball by the Warriors' top of the lineup: leadoff man Sousanes and second batter Harry Vickers went a combined 5-for-6 with 7 runs scored.
"I knew I had to wait back on the pitch," Sousanes said of his game-opening drive down the right-field line. "We knew coming into the game that (St. Charles North was) very good."
The middle of the Warriors' lineup did its fair share of damage as well. Carius later added a 2-run single to complement his first-inning 2-run shot over the right-field fence; Brown parked a 3-run blast - on the first pitch he saw from the North Stars' second reliever - to stake the Warriors to a 14-3 third-inning cushion.
"I knew he was probably going to come with a fastball to try and get ahead," Brown said.
As if the Waubonsie Valley offense were not fearsome enough, shortstop Ryan Vega, who clouted a solo blast in the third, had three sterling defensive plays to anchor the Warriors' error-free play.
"It all came down to who was better prepared," Vega said.
Jake Bergren paced St. Charles North (9-2, 2-1) with a second-inning, 2-run homer.
"The good thing is that it only counts for one loss," Genke said. "There were some positives but way too many negatives."