Borst closes door for regional champ St. Charles North
Todd Genke never envisioned turning to Kevin Borst to close out York on Saturday afternoon.
After all, the St. Charles North right-hander pitched nearly six innings Thursday in the North Stars' extra-inning victory at the Class 4A Elk Grove baseball regional semifinal.
But Genke was rapidly running out of options when York scored 3 runs - without ever putting a single ball in play - against three separate St. Charles North pitchers in the top of the seventh inning.
Borst, with the bases loaded, was a true fireman for the North Stars, recording a pair of strikeouts and a groundout to preserve the North Stars' 8-5 victory in the championship game in Elk Grove Village.
St. Charles North (34-4), the No. 1 seed in the St. Charles East sectional, advances to meet the host and fifth-seeded Saints on Wednesday afternoon.
York closed out its campaign at 23-14.
"No lead is safe in the playoffs," said Borst, who not only recorded his fifth save but also clouted a 2-run home run in the North Stars' sixth inning to give his team an 8-2 lead. "I wanted the ball, I wanted to get out of here and go home. Every game in the playoffs is tough."
"That's what makes the game of baseball so great," Genke said of the Dukes' seventh-inning rally that consisted of five walks and a hit-batsmen. "I don't want (the seventh-inning wildness) to overshadow Jared Shurtleff's performance. (Borst) wanted the ball; he's a warrior."
Shurtleff ran his season-long unbeaten streak to nine games as the North Stars struck for 3 first-inning runs.
Ryan Richardson, Mike Budka and Matt Stevens all had extra-base hits off York starter Matt Pisani (5-3) to give St. Charles North a lead never to be relinquished.
But Pisani, a senior southpaw, aided his own cause over the next four innings with three pickoffs.
"(Pisani has) been rock solid for us all spring," York coach Dave Kalal said. "Even though he didn't have his best stuff, he battled."
Joe Paparone reduced the North Stars' lead to 3-1 with the first of his two doubles in the third, and Ray Young halved the Dukes' deficit with another run-scoring double in the fifth.
St. Charles North would respond in its half with another three-spot; Jake Bergren scored on a short popup when the Dukes' second baseman fell fielding the ball, and Chase Williams' double down the left-field line scored Budka.
Shurtleff retired the Dukes in order in the sixth, and Borst seemingly put the game out of reach with a lined-shot home run over the left-field fence.
"All I was looking for was a fastball on the inner half," Borst said. "That's what he threw me, and I got it."
"We had our chances throughout the game," Kalal said. "We just couldn't get that one big hit."