This time, Batavia holds off St. Charles N.

Batavia starting pitcher Joe Sortino couldn’t bear to watch.

Sortino, who was pulled after giving up a 2-run home run to St. Charles North’s Dirk Schmitt that cut the Bulldogs’ lead to 6-3 with 1 out in the bottom of the seventh, saw the North Stars (15-6, 9-3) push across another run and move the tying run into scoring position with 2 outs Wednesday afternoon in St. Charles.

The senior right-hander had every reason to be concerned, considering the Bulldogs carried a 4-1 lead into the seventh inning 24 hours earlier before St. Charles North rallied for a 5-4 victory.

“I was just hoping that they didn’t pull it out because yesterday was a killer for us,” said Sortino, who pitched 2-hit ball through the first 5 innings.

This time, the Bulldogs (8-12, 5-8) held on as reliever Steven Patterson retired Andrew Elliot on a comebacker and they earned a much-needed, 6-4 Upstate Eight Conference River Division triumph.

“How many times have we tried to squander (a lead) and done it?” Batavia coach Matt Holm asked. “This is the first one that we’ve had in the last inning and actually held on to. We’ve just had too many of them that have slipped away from us.”

Despite his team’s recent inability to hold late leads, Holm admittedly felt pretty good about the Bulldogs’ 5-run advantage after 6 innings.

“I was comfortable until the last inning,” said Holm. “Then it’s like, ‘here’s the big, dipping roller coaster — everybody hold on.’”

Batavia jumped on North Stars starting pitcher Josh Loynachan (2-1) for 5 runs in the first 3 innings, highlighted by Patterson’s 2-run single and Nick Pappas’ RBI base hit in the third, and a first-inning RBI single by Jay Clark.

Clark, who capped a 4-for-4 day at the plate with a solo home run in the sixth, had 3 of the Bulldogs’ 11 two-out hits.

“That’s a nice stat to know,” said Holm. “We’re starting to get some good habits back. Jay (Clark) had four hits today, three yesterday and six on Saturday. His average was something like .218 and now it’s got to be over .300.”

“I’m glad to be helping out the team again,” said Clark. “It felt good to get it going.”

Held to just 2 baserunners through the first 5 frames, the North Stars were unable to mount much of an offensive challenge until the seventh inning.

“Their pitcher (Sortino) only had made 49 pitches going into the fifth inning, so we weren’t getting into any counts at the plate and really weren’t pressing the issue,” said North Stars coach Todd Genke.

“My curveball was working pretty good for me today,” said Sortino, who didn’t issue a walk. “I was hitting my locations.”

“I think Joe is finally off the basketball court — and I don’t mean any disrespect when I say that,” said Holm. “Last year it was the same thing. He started building stamina midway through the season and he’s there now. He’s someone we can really count on in the rotation.”

Falling behind 5-0 after 3 innings, the North Stars were taken out of their game.

“The strategy changes because you can’t run, you can’t hit-and-run, you can’t bunt, you can’t pressure the defense,” said Genke.

Batavia outfielders Sam Burnoski and Patterson supported Sortino’s cause with highlight-reel diving catches.

“They made some plays early on defensively that changed the tone of the game,” said Genke, who was pleased with his team’s last-inning comeback bid.

“It almost felt like the same thing as last night,” added Genke. “At least we had a chance there at the end.”

The teams wrap up their 3-game series today in Batavia.