Baseball: Gattuso sparks St. Charles North's comeback win over Burlington Central
Athletes can handle a demotion two ways.
There is the woe-is-me-approach, defined by pouting.
Or it can be approached head-on, the way St. Charles North senior Mike Gattuso handled being dropped from the leadoff spot to No. 9 in the batting order on Wednesday after a 2-for-17 start to the season.
The right-handed hitting outfielder did his best to make the switch temporary in his first game not in the top spot. Gattuso finished 3-for-3 with a double, a triple and 2 RBI and scored 3 runs in a 14-7 nonconference victory over visiting Burlington Central that was halted by darkness in the bottom of the sixth.
"It was tough for me at first," Gattuso said of the order switch, "but (the coaches) told me many times that they still had confidence in me as a player. Same thing with my teammates, too. They still had confidence in me."
Burlington Central (3-4) held a 5-3 lead on St. Charles North (4-3) when Gattuso batted for the first time in the bottom of the second. Ironically, he led off the inning. He bunted in attempt to get on base and regain a bit of confidence, he said. It went for a single.
He also led off the fourth inning and lined a double to left field. That sparked a 7-run outburst that overcame a 6-4 Central lead. Gattuso batted again in the same frame and tripled to right field to knock in a pair.
"I'm really happy for him because he's been scuffling and he showed us just how good he can be," St. Charles North coach Todd Genke said. "I told him 'Hey, just go down to the bottom of the order and produce' and he did."
The Rockets, who advanced to Class 3A sectional finals the last two seasons, gave the North Stars a rough ride for 3½ innings. Central scored 4 runs in the second inning to take a 5-3 lead. Brenden Rindhage singled, Ethan Rodriguez doubled and junior Jake Jarvis' sacrifice fly plated a run.
North pitching proceeded to allow 2 more runs on two-out wild pitches, sandwiched around an error and a hit batsman. The Rockets managed 7 hits.
"I was proud of the way we took at-bats today," Central coach Kyle Nelson said. "I thought we did a much better job of it. We've been struggling with that a little bit this year so it was good to see us come out and swing the bats well from the beginning."
St. Charles North pitching issued 7 walks, beaned 3 hitters and threw 5 wild pitches.
"I'm a little frustrated with our pitching: too many 3-ball counts, too many walks and too many free bases," Genke said. "But we're still learning what we have and it's exciting to see how good we can play when we do swing the bats like we do."
Reliever Kris Kempe earned the win for St. Charles North. He held the Rockets to an earned run on a hit and a walk in 2⅓ innings. Ryan Thiesse finished 2-for-4 with a home run and 3 RBI, Nick DeMarco doubled twice and Andrew Jimenez went 3-for-4 with 3 RBI.
Rindhange and Rodriguez each had two hits and Colton Wallace doubled for Central.