Baseball: St. Charles North capitalizes on Batavia mistakes
Like many teams in the area, St. Charles North couldn't have been happier to see the sun shine and get back on the field Monday.
The North Stars opened their 3-game series with Batavia last Tuesday with a win, then rainouts the next three days pushed Game 2 of the series all the way back to Monday.
"We woke up today and we were saying 'Better not get rained out,''" said the North Stars' slick-fielding shortstop Zach Mettetal. "We were hoping. We were hungry."
Mettetal drove in runs in his first 3 at-bats while playing flawless defense in St. Charles North's 10-3 win at Batavia.
Center fielder Brendan Joyce also enjoyed a big day, going 3-for-4 with 4 RBI including a bases-clearing triple in the North Stars' 6-run, game-deciding fifth inning.
"We were in Myrtle Beach and it was 75 every day," Joyce said of the team's spring trip. "Then it was a grind all last week. We hit really well last week getting our ABs in the cage and it really paid off today. We were hitting better today than our past games."
St. Charles North (5-2, 2-0 in the Upstate Eight Conference River Division) grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first against Batavia starter Ben Lynam, who walked Joyce on 4 pitches to start the game, then also walked John LeGare and Tyler Mettetal to load the bases with no outs.
After a strikeout, Zach Mettetal drew a walk to force in the first run of the game. Lynam labored through a 36-pitch first inning in a start that reminded Batavia coach Matt Holm of a game last year against Larkin when Lynam walked 3 in the first and came back to strike out 16.
"It was take to get a strike because he was all over the place and the ump's zone was not helping him," Zach Mettetal said. "Be as patient as possible."
The North Stars extended their lead to 3-0 in the third on a triple from Kyle Novotney, Zach Mettetal's RBI single and Blake Saltsman's run-scoring groundout.
Batavia (4-2, 0-2) tied the game 3-3 in the third. A walk to Tyler Munoz and Jared Martin's single put 2 runners on, and Tyler Kledzik brought them both in when he launched an 0-2 pitch over the right-field fence for a 3-run homer.
The North Stars regained the lead in the fifth when Zach Mettetal muscled a tough 2-strike pitch just over the first baseman's head for an RBI single.
"I inside-outed it," Mettetal said. "We work on 2-strike approaches, get on the plate, choke up, and just fight off any pitch. It was an inside pitch and I just threw the bat at the ball and it happened to (drop for a hit)."
Batavia kept the inning going with a pair of errors, and Joyce made them pay with his 3-run triple. LeGare followed with a single to score Joyce.
"We had a little momentum there and then we give 6 freebies," Holm said. "They only had 3 hits in that inning. Against a good team like that you can't give them any freebies. You can't just catch up and call it a game. You have to finish."
Jack Lambert pitched the first 4 innings for the North Stars, improving to 4-0 on the young season by striking out 7 and walking 1. The rainouts enabled Genke to pitch Lambert in both games against Batavia, and with the makeup of the third game in the series scheduled for next Monday, it's possible Lambert could start all three games.
The North Stars also got a lift from Ryan Litavecz who entered in the fifth and tossed 3 scoreless innings of relief, striking out the side in the seventh.
"Ryan was one of our best sophomore pitchers last year and he showed why. He competed well," North Stars coach Todd Genke said. "Defensively we played very well and we should."
Glenn Albanese joined Kledzik as Batavia's hitting standouts going 3-for-3 with a double, but it wasn't enough.
"It's exciting to come over here two times and beat a quality team," Genke said. "It was kind of interesting to see us run into a little adversity, and obviously our kids responded well. Our hitters are starting to get locked in. It's exciting to see us swing the bats like we're capable of."