St. Charles N. overtakes Lake Park
OK, so Erik Nelson didn’t win the lottery Thursday. Everything else that happened to him was like a dream come true.
Nelson, a senior left fielder at St. Charles North, started his afternoon gunning down a Lake Park runner at second base trying to stretch a single into a double.
A couple innings later the public address announcer asked Michelle Vezina to stand up in the crowd, then asked if she would go to the prom with Nelson. Vezina said yes.
In the fifth inning Nelson laced a single to drive in the North Stars’ second run — his first hit of the season.
And Nelson capped his day in the seventh with the North Stars losing 4-2 by ripping an RBI triple into the teeth of the wind to deep right field. Nelson then scored the tying run, and moments later Nick Gilmore completed the North Stars’ 3-run seventh-inning rally with the game-winning single up the middle to give St. Charles North a 5-4 victory over Lake Park (4-4, 1-1).
“I’m just on cloud nine right now,” Nelson said.
What made Nelson’s day even more remarkable was all he has gone through just to play. He missed his entire junior season when he tore the labrum in his right shoulder diving back into first base in the North Stars’ first game of the year.
Nelson used that as motivation to return this season. He didn’t miss watching his teammates play a single game last spring, summer or fall.
“I just watched a lot of baseball, I took a lot of mental notes,” Nelson said. “I always knew I’d be able to get back but it was a tough process because it was kind of two steps forward one step back kind of ordeal. I just kept on working, kept on pushing ahead whenever things didn’t go my way.”
Nelson has been battling bicep tendinitis in his other shoulder in the early going this year that has again kept him out of the lineup. He told his coach Todd Genke in school Thursday that he finally felt good enough to start.
The emotions hit Nelson in the seventh inning. Lake Park starter Mark Pall had held the North Stars (4-4, 2-0) to 2 runs on 5 hits through 6 innings but Lancers coach Dan Colucci pulled him after a leadoff single by Kurt Barbeau in the bottom of the seventh as Pall’s pitch count hit 103.
Nelson worked reliever Eric Vatch to a 3-2 count, then one-hopped the fence down the right-field line for a triple to score Barbeau.
“I was so excited,” Nelson said. “It was kind of the culmination of everything being out last year. It was my breaking point hitting that ball, I was just so excited I almost missed first base.”
On the throw to the plate Lancers catcher Tom Spear got hit in the nose by the ball and had to leave the game with what was feared to be a broken nose. Vatch moved from pitcher to replace Spear at catcher, and Colucci turned to Ryan Castello on the mound.
Brandon Drawant greeted Castello with a line single to score Nelson and tie the game. Andrew Kronke, who earned the win in relief of Jake Johansmeier, bunted Drawant to second.
Drawant took third on Jake Smiley’s ground out. After the Lancers walked John Brodner intentionally, Gilmore worked the count to 3-1 and then laced a fastball up the middle to bring Drawant home with the winning run as the North Stars bench chased Gilmore down at first base to celebrate.
“I realized it was up to me so I had to do what I could to help the team win,” Gilmore said. “We were taking a strike so I was doing that. When he got to 3-0 he threw a strike down the middle and I figured he was going to try to do that again. It’s really good for our team. We’re going to be hard to beat after a game like this.”
Lancers leadoff hitter Jeremy Olenek walked and scored in both the third and fifth innings. Nick Turner and John Schram singled home runs in the fifth to put the Lancers up 3-1.
After Nelson’s RBI single trimmed Lake Park’s lead to 3-2 in the fifth, the Lancers added an insurance run in the seventh on Schram’s sacrifice fly that plated Max Boryszewski who had once again started the rally with a walk.
It didn’t turn out to be enough.
“To their credit they (the North Stars) earned it,” Colucci said. “We didn’t give it to them in the last inning. You feel bad about a loss like that but we didn’t really beat ourselves. They went out and beat us that last inning.”
Gilmore, Barbeau and Nelson all had 2 hits to lead the North Stars who came through with the clutch hits Thursday after leaving the bases loaded in three straight innings earlier this week against Plainfield Central.
“It looked a little dire there for a bit but the kids are a pretty hard-nosed group of kids,” Genke said. “They got some big hits there and these are tough conditions to hit in. Nelson, he’s just been dying to play. I’m really happy for him. He’s been waiting to get in there awhile.”