St. Charles East answers Geneva
St. Charles East's baseball team had the answer Tuesday afternoon.
Trailing 1-0 after Geneva scored a fifth-inning run on Jack Wassel's 2-out RBI double down the left-field line, the Saints (12-2, 7-0) responded with 3 runs of their own in the bottom half of the frame.
That was more than enough run support for senior right-hander Mick Vyzral (3-1), who retired 7 of the last 8 batters he faced while tossing a complete game during the Saints' 3-1 Upstate Eight Conference River Division victory in St. Charles.
It was the fifth distance performance in 6 games for the Saints, who extended their winning streak to 10 with the come-from-behind triumph.
"It has been really nice," junior catcher Anthony Adduci said of working with starting pitchers Austin Regelbrugge, Kyle Cook, Matt Breidigan and Vyzral. "It's tough when guys are pounding them in the dirt, not hitting their spots and walking guys. We've done a great job of hitting spots which makes my job a lot easier."
Geneva senior right-hander Bret Reed held the Saints scoreless on just 2 hits through 4 innings before running into trouble in the fifth.
Jimmy Dale led off with an infield single before a foul bunt attempt with 2 strikes resulted in the first out of the inning.
Senior Reid Olson then launched a double to deep left to drive in Dale with the tying run.
"That was a big spark and a big help for us," said Saints coach Len Asquini. "We got that run and we kind of kept going after that."
After Olson moved to third on Jake Asquini's groundout, Adduci laced an RBI single to give the Saints a 2-1 lead.
"With 1 out, hitting behind the runner isn't the objective but it really worked out because Anthony (Adduci) got the base hit for the game-winner and then Austin (Gift) gets a hit," said the coach.
"It was really nice to see us do that because we hadn't been going that all day."
Gift, the Saints' designated hitter, provided some insurance with an RBI single that chased Reed from the mound after 4 2/3 effective innings for the Vikings (6-7, 3-4).
"I think if we could have put a goose egg up in the bottom of the fifth, I think we would have been in real good shape," said Vikings coach Matt Hahn. "They made some good adjustments at the plate. They're a good team.
"It's always disappointing when you lose but we faced a good pitcher and we did a pretty good job at the plate."
Wassel and Justin Hasegawa each had 2 hits for the Vikings, who will resume the 3-game series at home today.
"I'm sure the wind will be howling out at our place tomorrow and we'll see what happens," said Hahn.
Regelbrugge flashed some leather with a pair of sparkling late-inning catches for the Saints, including a running, rolling grab of a deep drive off the bat of Garrett Davis for the game's final out.
"They were outstanding catches," said Asquini. "That's something we don't expect our guys to do. We expect them to make the routine plays so when they make special, super plays like that - boy, you got to relish those.
"Those are game savers."