St. Charles North run outburst continues
It's hard to do anything 53 times, but the St. Charles North baseball team is making run production look easy this week.
The sizzling North Stars cooled off red-hot Streamwood with 20 hits - including 4 home runs - in a 20-8 Upstate Eight Conference road win on a windy Thursday. All nine hitters in the St. Charles North starting lineup managed at least one hit.
North's 20-run outburst came on the heels of a series sweep of Larkin earlier in the week, a pair of games in which the North Stars scored 15 and 18 runs, respectively, giving them a total of 53 runs scored in 3 games.
"The whole team's just kind of getting on a roll now," said St. Charles North leadoff hitter Jake Bergren, who singled and hit his sixth home run of the season, a 3-run shot, in an 8-run first inning. "It's starting to feel good. We're learning from mistakes earlier in the season and it's starting to show now. We're starting to click for sure."
The North Stars knocked out Streamwood starting pitcher Rich Gorski (2-2) in the first inning with their 8-run barrage, which also featured a 2-run double by Matt Stevens and a 2-run single from Andrew Elliot.
The lopsided nature of the loss was a disappointment for Streamwood (13-7, 7-4), which was coming off 2 wins over rival Bartlett and a road victory at Neuqua Valley on Wednesday,
"We've had a lot of highs and lows. It's been emotional week for us," Sabres coach Steve Diversey said. "You can't stay up at that level four days in a row. But I'm not making excuses, we just didn't play well. We didn't hit the ball well enough and we didn't pitch good enough. They're a good ballclub."
Streamwood closed to within 9-5 in the fourth inning, when junior Dylan Noncek hit a 2-run home run against North Stars starting pitcher Ryan Hudspeth. It was Noncek's second homer of the game and the season.
St. Charles North (17-3, 9-2) erased any doubt about the outcome with 5 runs in the sixth inning and a 6-run seventh. John Brodner hit a 3-run home run in the fifth, and Mike Budka hit a 2-run shot in the seventh. Kevin Borst also homered for St. Charles North in the third inning.
Hudspeth improved to 4-0 by limiting the Sabres to 4 earned runs on 6 hits in 5 innings.
"(The wind) was blowing out of the southeast, blowing straight out, but I trust my offense," Hudspeth said. "Our offense is so powerful I knew if I could just keep it close for them, they could get the win. I was trying to keep the ball down and some got away from me. Tough conditions, but a win is a win."
The teams will conclude their 3-game series with a doubleheader in St. Charles on Saturday at 10 a.m.