St. Charles East rolls past Geneva
St. Charles East senior right fielder Henri Desrosiers said the Saints are aiming high in the final seven games of the regular season.
How high? Try seven wins in seven games and an Upstate Eight Conference River championship.
“We’re playing our best baseball in May and that’s what we want to do going into the playoffs,” Desrosiers said. “We want to win the next seven and win the conference.”
If St. Charles East (20-6, 16-2) plays like it did Thursday at Geneva it’s hard to see how anyone could beat them — even though their closing stretch comes against the teams closest to them in the UEC standings, Streamwood (23-3, 17-3), Geneva (16-8, 13-6) and St. Charles North (20-8, 14-5).
Desrosiers went 3-for-3 at the plate and made one of the Saints’ four brilliant defensive plays as St. Charles East spotted Geneva a 3-0 lead Thursday and then scored 14 unanswered runs to win 14-3 in 6 innings.
“A 3-run game in a park like this is not much,” Saints coach Dave Haskins said. “We didn’t come out sharp in our approaches but they did a great job adjusting to what they were throwing and where they were throwing.”
Chris Hipchen singled and eventually scored on a balk by winning pitcher Dan Ditusa (6 innings, 4 hits, 4 strikeouts, 3 runs) for a 1-0 Geneva lead in the second inning.
A 2-run home run to left field by sophomore shortstop Mitch Endriukaitis after he failed to get a bunt down put the Vikings ahead 3-0 going to the fourth inning.
After managing 1 hit in the first 3 innings, St. Charles East pounded 13 in the final 3 innings starting with 7 hits in the fourth. The Saints sent 13 batters to the plate and recorded 7 hits, 2 hit batters, 1 walk, 3 doubles, 8 runs and 1 home run – Tony Rallo’s 12th of the season, a towering blast to right field.
Matt Harris stroked a 2-run double to put the Saints on the board. After a sacrifice fly from Ryan Shaffrey tied the game 3-3, St. Charles East came up with 4 straight 2-out hits capped by Rallo’s homer for an 8-3 lead.
“We have a great approach with 2 strikes and a great approach with 2 outs,” Haskins said. “We trust our hands and believe we have the bat speed to take care of what’s coming at us.”
St. Charles East ended the game early with a 5-run sixth inning. Brian Sobieski and Harris had run-scoring hits, then Joe Hoscheit pushed it to an 11-run margin with an opposite field 2-run single.
Hoscheit (3-for-5, 3 RBI), Desrosiers (3-for-3), Jordan Hayes (2-for-5, 2 doubles, 2 RBI), Rallo (2-for-4, 2 RBI) and Harris (2-for-4, 3 RBI) all had multihit games.
“We’re a team that can come back from anything,” Hayes said. “We’ve got such good hitters. Being down anything we can always come back.”
As good as the Saints were at the plate, they might have been even better in the field. Desrosiers started it taking away an extra-base hit while running into the wall in right. Hayes turned a nifty 5-3 double play alertly tagging a runner before throwing to first.
That was just a warm-up for the fifth when second baseman Harris raced backward to make an over-the-shoulder catch far into right field. Shortstop Luke Rojas then barehanded a dribbler and threw out the runner at first, thanks to a scoop on the other end by Rallo at first base.
“We covered a lot of ground out there and made plays,” Desrosiers said. “It’s good to see and fun to watch.”
Appropriately, the game ended with the Saints turning a double play.
“I’d have to say that’s one of the best defensive performances we’ve had this season,” Hayes said. “A lot of great plays and really helped out Dan.”
There wasn’t much Geneva could do to keep up. Hipchen went 2-for-2 for half of the Vikings’ 4 hits.
“That’s a team you can’t make mistakes against,” said Geneva coach Matt Hahn, whose team plays a doubleheader at East Saturday. “Whether an error or giving up an at-bat. You have to be on the whole game. That’s why they are so good.
“We’ll come back on Saturday and be ready to play. This is one of those games as soon as you leave you let it go. I think we’re a resilient bunch.”
The Saints play a key conference game Friday at Streamwood in a matchup between Division I pitchers Wes Benjamin (Kansas) and Josh Harris (Villanova).