St. Charles North bounces back vs. Waubonsie Valley
A sleepless night ended with early-morning motivation for St. Charles North's baseball team.
After being thumped by Waubonsie Valley on Thursday, the North Stars showed resiliency in Friday's 6-2 Upstate Eight Conference win in Aurora.
St. Charles North (10-2, 3-1) still felt the sting of Thursday's 22-6 thrashing by the Warriors (5-6, 3-3), and the rematch couldn't come soon enough for the North Stars and starting pitcher Ryan Hudspeth, who eagerly anticipated the chance at redemption.
"I was looking forward to getting the ball today and giving it back to them," said Hudspeth, who improved to 2-0 by pitching 5 innings and allowing 1 earned run. "Couldn't wait. I wish the game was at eight o'clock this morning. Once we left the field yesterday it was done and over with. We were ready to come out and win today."
Despite managing only 2 hits through four innings against Waubonsie Valley starter Sean Smith (2-1), St. Charles North created its first run behind Kevin Borst's third-inning double, David Gow's sacrifice bunt and Jake Bergren's RBI groundout.
The North Stars added 2 insurance runs in the top of the sixth on John Brodner's RBI double and Borst's run-scoring single. With Hudspeth allowing only 2 hits through five innings, the 3-0 lead seemed pretty secure.
"The momentum starts with the pitcher on the mound and he came in and shut them down for five," said North Stars coach Todd Genke. "That gave us the confidence we needed to get the bats going a little bit,
"A lot of them said they didn't sleep very well last night, and that includes the coaching staff," Genke said. "Kudos to the kids. But I give credit to Waubonsie, too, because they were ready to play as well."
The Warriors made it interesting in the bottom of the sixth by scoring 2 runs on an RBI single by Sam Carius and an error that narrowed the deficit to 3-2. St. Charles North, however, added 3 seventh-inning runs on RBI hits by Brodner and Chase Williams.
Waubonsie Valley played without Valparaiso-bound pitcher, outfielder and first baseman Kris Singh, who broke a finger in Thursday's game. Warriors coach Dan Fezzuoglio said the team will be without Singh for about three weeks.
"We really battled to the end," Fezzuoglio said. "I give them credit for really hanging in there and competing. We'll just keep working and keep trying to get better."