St. Charles East’s Ludke looks good in his return
Len Asquini wasn’t the only one making his return to the St. Charles East baseball field Tuesday.
Senior Luke Ludke, who didn’t come out for baseball as a junior, shook off a shaky first inning to pitch four solid innings in the Saints’ 6-3 victory over West Aurora.
Asquini is back coaching the Saints’ varsity after his earlier 8-year run from 1996 to 2003 included winning the 1999 AA state championship.
While he said afterward there were no special feelings in his first game back on the St. Charles field, Ludke pointed to Asquini’s presence as a big reason why he returned to the team.
“That’s one of the main reasons I came back to baseball,” the lanky right-hander said. “It’s awesome. He’s very old school. He doesn’t want too many flashy jerseys. We don’t listen to music anymore. He’s just play baseball, there’s nothing else to it. He just knows the game well and is a good coach.”
Leadoff hitter Nicholas Erickson echoed that view after he went 2-for-3 and reached base all three times while anchoring the Saints’ errorless defense with his play at shortstop.
“I’m liking it,” Erickson said. “It’s a change from last year and it’s one for the better. I just like the way he does things and he’s a really good coach.”
West Aurora (1-3) threatened to play spoiler early, scoring two runs in the first inning.
Adam Lipscomb, Richie Renner and Ricky Rivera singled to load the bases with one out. Alex Pope battled through a nine-pitch at-bat to single up the middle, scoring Lipscomb. Renner then scored on A.J. Ponce’s grounder.
Ludke settled down from there and retired 9 of 10 hitters in the second through fourth innings. He finished with 3 strikeouts and 2 walks in 5 innings, allowing 5 hits and 2 runs while throwing 51 of his 73 pitches for strikes.
“I thought I pitched pretty well,” Ludke said. “I let them put the ball in play and let our defense make plays. I didn’t think they were hitting me too hard (in the first). They just found a couple gaps and the ball got through. I think I bounced back.”
St. Charles East (2-0) got a run back in the first inning against Blackhawks ace Marcus Diaz (1-1) when Erickson led off with a single, stole second and scored on a West Aurora throwing error on Jordan Hayes’ steal attempt. Hayes had reached on a walk after he fouled off five pitches.
Diaz ended the first by striking out the final three hitters, but his defense let him down again in the third when the Saints scored 4 unearned runs to go ahead 5-2.
Erickson reached on an error to start the inning. Joe Hoscheit’s 2-run single put the Saints up 3-2, then the Blackhawks dropped Brian Sobieski’s fly ball to let Hoscheit score.
Diaz pitched a complete game allowing 6 hits, 2 earned runs and the two walks in the first inning while fanning six.
“It (the third-inning errors) just opened the whole thing. That right there was the game,” said West Aurora coach John Reeves, whose team also made 7 errors Monday against Waubonsie Valley.
“We’re struggling a little defensively with some veteran guys. They have all been around the block. We just need to shore things up a little defensively and help our pitchers out.”
Hoscheit relieved Ludke and allowed 1 run in the final 2 innings, overcoming 3 walks. Bobby Drager’s double drove home a run in the sixth, then Hoscheit stranded two runners in the seventh striking out Pope 2-for-4) to end the game.
West Aurora stranded 8 runners while the Saints made the most of their opportunities leaving just two. Their top three hitters — Erickson, Hayes and Hoscheit — combined to go 4 for 7 with 4 runs and 3 RBI.
That type of start — and a defense that has just a single error in two games — is music to Asquini’s ears, even if the old school Saints are no longer jamming tunes before and after their games.
“Slow start, nice for us to get down and have to come back,” Asquini said. “Things change a little if we don’t make all the plays. The last two days we have been good defensively and that’s been a trademark of our teams.”