St. Charles North sweeps Streamwood to maintain UEC lead
On a day St. Charles North got some bad news off the field, the North Stars continued to play great baseball on it.
St. Charles North swept a doubleheader from Streamwood, playing error-free baseball and getting outstanding pitching for 2-1 and 5-1 victories. The wins keep the North Stars on top of the Upstate Eight Conference standings heading into next week's three-game series with St. Charles East.
Unfortunately, the North Stars (20-3, 11-2) found out Saturday they will be without right fielder Chase Williams for four to six weeks with mono. Williams is hitting .440 and leads the team in RBI.
"I feel really bad for Chase," North Stars coach Todd Genke said. "That's a big blow. He's OK, he just can't play. We are hoping to have him back in a couple weeks but when we are taking about the spleen it's something you have to be very careful with.
"We won a couple games for him today. He'll still be there for his teammates and hopefully we get him back toward the end of the season."
Ryan Richardson got the North Stars off to good start in Game 2 with an opposite field home run in the first. It was the first home run of the year for the Nebraska-bound shortstop, who is hitting just under .500.
"The kids give him a lot of grief about it (having no homers) because he hits it everywhere else but over the fence," Genke said.
That was just the start of a huge game for Richardson, who followed with a single, double and another single to go 4-for-4.
"We were a little bitter after that fist game for not having as much offense as we've had," Richardson said. "It was kind of a wake-up call I guess. We came out swinging the bats really well and made good contact up and down the order."
Matt Stevens extended the lead to 2-0 with an RBI single. The North Stars doubled the lead in the second inning to 4-0 when Jake Bergren connected on an 0-1 pitch and drove it over the right-field fence. It was the seventh home run of the season for the North Stars' junior center fielder.
St. Charles North junior left-hander Phil Warner dominated. He retired the first eight hitters until Patrick Manning's two-out double in the third. Manning also doubled in the first game.
Streamwood broke up Warner's shutout in the sixth without a hit. Nate Pearson walked, stole second and third and scored on a wild pitch.
Warner threw 6 innings allowing 2 hits, 3 walks and 1 run while striking out eight. Austin Schuetz pitched the seventh, facing the minium three hitters after catcher Matt Stevens threw out a would-be base stealer at second. That after Stevens displayed his rocket arm two times earlier, picking a runner off first base in both games.
"That's (picking off a runner at first) a big momentum booster too," Warner said. "They could have had something that inning and then you get that and get out of the inning unscathed. You always know if they try to steal Matt can throw them out."
St. Charles North started the day with a 2-1 win in Game 1. The North Stars capitalized on a throwing error on a bunt to score both of their runs in the fifth inning.
Josh Harris (3-3) suffered the hard-luck loss for Streamwood (13-9, 7-6), pitching 6 innings and allowing just 4 singles. He had 5 strikeouts and 2 walks.
Blake Hunter took the loss in the second game, falling to 5-1.
"We just couldn't get enough going," Streamwood coach Steve Diversy said. "That is probably the best team we've seen in conference all year and we hung with them. They were just better than us today. There's not much to say."
Harris retired the side in order the first two innings. He pitched around two walks in the fourth inning, then got into trouble in the fifth.
No. 9 hitter Josh Loynachan, who was filing in for Williams, reached on a one-out single. Bergren laid down a bunt that Streamwood threw away, scoring Loynachan and sending Bergren all the way to third. Richardson followed with a groundout to score Bergren with what proved to be the game-winning run.
"That game comes down to the ball we threw away," Diversey said. "We pretty much gift-wrapped that for them.
"But you have to keep hitting, keep scoring runs so when you do make a mistake it doesn't cost you the game. Very rarely do you see perfect games."
Jared Shurtleff (6-0) picked up the win for the North Stars, allowing 1 run in 6 innings. That run came in the third when Pearson singled, stole a base and scored on Richie Gorski's groundout.
Kevin Borst worked a scoreless seventh for the save. Borst fanned two and left Pearson, who doubled with 1 out, stranded at second to end the game.
"It was a team win," Genke said. "We got a couple bunts down and made them play defense, and we played really sound defense today."
Waubonsie Valley split with Neuqua Valley on Saturday to fall to 11-4 in the Upstate Eight, but the Warriors close with Bartlett, East Aurora and Larkin and might not lose another game. South Elgin is 10-3. St. Charles East is in fourth at 9-4 after splitting with Lake Park on Saturday.
The Saints and North Stars play Tuesday at East, Wednesday at North and Thursday at Elfstrom Stadium.
"This was a huge series for us and we have to make sure it springboards us into next week," Genke said.
"We're playing well. It's nice to see. The kids realize their potential and we have some kids stepping up. We're hitting through the lineup, we're pitching well. Especially on a day like today, we have prom tonight, they have minds in other places but they were focused today and beat a good Streamwood team."