Streamwood clinches share of UEC River
Nate Pearson's sixth-inning hit was pretty big.
Sure the single off Geneva's Mike Monaghan finally gave Streamwood a lead on Senior Night.
But sometimes a hit is more than just a hit.
Streamwood would down the Vikings 9-6 and moments later find out that St. Charles North had defeated St. Charles East, giving the Sabres at least a share of the Upstate Eight River Division championship.
As the players emotionally celebrated the league title, parents reflected as this was the first time in school history that the Sabres have won an Upstate Eight baseball championship. Streamwood can win the River title outright with a victory at Geneva today.
“This is a good way to go out on Senior Night,” Pearson said. “We were down 5-0 early. This is a team win.”
It took Streamwood (26-5, 19-5), which also set a school record for victories, 3 pitchers and 6 innings, but it finally was able to overcome Geneva's 5-0 first-inning lead.
Starting pitcher Blake Hunter allowed 5 runs on 5 hits to the Vikings' first 8 batters. Lucas Leckie came in with two outs and pitched brilliantly for the next 5 innings, allowing just 1 run on 4 hits.
Chris Hipchen, Eric Melin and Andy Francis all had RBI doubles in the first inning off Hunter. Leckie allowed just 1 extra-base hit. Richie Gorski (4-1-1) picked up the win for the Sabres going the final 1 ⅓ innings without allowing a run.
“(Hunter) threw what they like,” Streamwood coach Steve Diversey said. “Lucas was a little below what they're used to digging in on. Without him going the five innings, we weren't winning. We dug ourselves in a hole.”
The Sabres crawled out of the hole with a 4-run fourth inning.
Gorski smacked a one-out double, the first Sabres' hit. Designated hitter Josh Harris highlighted the inning when he nailed a 3-run home run to right-center field to score Brandon Larkin-Guilfoyle and Alex Morrow. Streamwood scored 4 runs on 4 hits in the inning off Geneva starter Drew White, just one of the runs being earned. Monaghan would pitch the final two innings and pick up the loss after allowing 5 runs, all earned, on hits in the sixth.
A batter after Pearson gave Streamwood the lead, Monaghan (3-1) had Gorski a pitch away from ending the inning. Gorski (2-for-4, 2 doubles) nailed an RBI double to score Patrick Manning.
“They hit the ball in that last inning,” Vikings' coach Matt Hahn said. “We let them get back into the game with a couple of errors.”
The loss puts Geneva at 16-8 in the UEC River (19-10 overall), which was more than most had predicted for the Vikings after transitioning into the league this year.
“We got no respect going in,” Hahn added. “If people don't believe now, then they never will.”