Schaumburg rallies past St. Charles N.
Schaumburg’s baseball team has a 10 in front of its name that is pretty misleading.
Ten as in the 10th-seeded Saxons, a number they were given when they owned a 13-11 record at the time of the seeding meeting.
Following a 2-1 win over St. Charles North Saturday in the Class 4A York regional championship game, they are winners of 10 of 11 and going home to play at their own Schaumburg sectional with a regional plaque in hand for retiring coach Paul Groot.
“Definitely we feel we are way better than a 10 seed,” winning pitcher Pat Bellinger said. “I’d say we’re the toughest 10 seed out there.”
They will get no arguments from No. 2 St. Charles North. Schaumburg won its second straight 1-run regional game, scoring single runs in the fifth and sixth innings.
Bellinger (7-3), who has both of the Saxons’ postseason wins after throwing 25 pitches in relief Thursday, came back two days later and tossed a complete-game gem. He allowed 4 hits and 2 walks while striking out nine and throwing 75 of his 115 pitches for strikes.
“He was a horse today,” Groot said. “He didn’t want to come out. He said he was fine so we let him go.”
Schaumburg (23-13) will play No. 3 seed St. Charles East (25-10) at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the sectional semifinals.
Cleanup hitter Jack Holden delivered the game-winning hit, a single up the middle in the sixth inning to score Matt Brancato.
“I really want to win it for coach Groot because it’s his last year,” Holden said. “I want to give him a good year out and I’m proud to be on his last team.”
As in most 1-run postseason losses, St. Charles North (24-13) is going to have plenty of ‘what-if’ moments to reflect on.
The North Stars got off to a good start. Eastern Illinois-bound Jake Johansmeier (3-4) capped a perfect first inning by striking out Brancato on a high fastball, then pitched out of a bases-loaded jam in the second by getting Kedric Daly on a flyball to center.
Jake Smiley put the North Stars ahead 1-0 when he dropped an opposite-field flare just in front of Daly in left and just inside the foul line to score Kurt Barbeau who had singled and stole second.
The Saxons tied the game in the fifth. Bellinger led off with a single and courtesy runner Justin Charvat took second on a balk call that drew protests from the North Stars.
Schaumburg quickly capitalized on the next two pitches with Joe Petritis bunting Charvat to third and pinch-hitter Chris Carlson grounding out to short to plate Charvat and tie the game 1-1.
“To call a balk in that situation, I couldn’t even see the rubber,” North Stars coach Todd Genke said. “You have to be sure. That made a huge difference.”
The North Stars squandered a golden opportunity to regain the lead in their half of the fifth. Adam Delisi singled and pinch runner George Edlund barely beat the throw to second on Barbeau’s bunt to put runners on first and second with no out.
But with Brandon Drawant up bunting, Saxons catcher Jeremy Hall picked Edlund off second, thwarting the rally.
“Not getting the bunt down and then to get picked off at second, you can’t do that in this type of game,” Genke said. “That really hurt us. Little things are magnified in the playoffs.”
The North Stars came unglued defensively in the sixth. An infield error put the leadoff runner on, and a throwing error trying to turn a 6-4-3 double play put Brancato at second with 1 out.
Johansmeier had fanned Holden on a high fastball in his previous at-bat, but this time Holden took a fastball back up the middle for the game-winning RBI.
“I was trying to look up the middle,” Holden said. “When I struck out I was really mad at myself. I came back up to the plate knowing I was not going to strike out and really focused.”
Clayton Schmitt stroked a two-out double in the sixth but Bellinger got Ryan Thomas on a fly to center to preserve the 2-1 lead. Bellinger then worked a 1-2-3 seventh, getting the final out on a comebacker as the Saxons raced out of the dugout to celebrate a regional title that keeps Groot’s career going at least one more game.
“I told my kids it’s been a great season already but it would be nice to get over to Boomers Stadium one more time,” Groot said. “Our kids really played well both games. Pitching and defense has been tremendous. We don’t have a great offense but we have kids that can do the little things and pick up a few runs here and there and execute.”
“It’s nice to go out with some sort of championship for coach Groot,” Bellinger said. “I’m not saying we’re not going to get a sectional because that’s our next goal, go get the sectional, then the supersectional and get to the final game. We all want to win the last game of the year.”
Johansmeier deserved a better fate, matching Bellinger pitch-for-pitch. Like Bellinger he fanned 9 and allowed only 4 hits and 1 earned run.
“You could always play better,” Johansmeier said. “Going back you think you could have made a play, we should have made a play, but that’s baseball. It’s over.”
The North Stars lost left fielder Erik Nelson in the fourth inning when Nelson injured his right shoulder diving back into first base on a pickoff attempt. It was the same shoulder that Nelson injured on the same type of play that forced him to miss his entire junior year.
“I feel so bad for him, he battled all the way back this year,” Genke said. “He had a great season for us. As soon as I saw him laying there I thought déjà vu. Unfortunately I think it took some of the momentum away from us. We just didn’t seem to get it back.”
The North Stars graduate 14 seniors from a team that won 20 games for the eighth straight year and enjoyed an 11-game winning streak in the middle of the season. But they faltered at the end losing the final two games of the Upstate Eight Conference River race to St. Charles East.
“It’s disheartening because I think we could have made a run with this team,” Genke said. “It is hard to say goodbye to those kids and they feel terrible right now and they will feel terrible for many years to come. I still look back at my high school career and how I came up short. Those things don’t ever go away.”