Baseball: St. Charles North sweeps doubleheader from Saints
Alex Najera was ready to come up throwing.
The conditions in Saturday's DuKane Conference matchup weren't ideal, but the St. Charles North senior outfielder knew he had to make a play for his team.
After St. Charles North climbed back from a three-run deficit, Najera fielded a base hit up the middle and threw a one-hop strike to nail the St. Charles East runner at the plate to preserve the North Stars' lead in an 8-7 victory.
The throw occurred with one out in the fourth inning, with the North Stars ahead 5-4. Najera's throw from center field not only stopped the Saints' Dom LeBlanc from scoring the game-tying run, but the momentum carried over to the bottom half of the inning when North scored three runs of its own.
"I get the ball, charge it and see someone running home and my only thought was 'I'm getting him'," Najera said. "The ball was a little wet, but I knew I had to come up throwing. [Catcher Jayden Lobliner] made a great tag and we got him. Little did we know we'd only win by one run at that point, but it turns out that was a huge play for us."
St. Charles East eventually loaded the bases in that same inning, but was unable to score as Eric Lee got Caleb Hubbard to ground out to end the inning.
Kevin White, who came on in relief to shut the door for the North Stars, hit an RBI double in the bottom half of the fourth to extend his team's advantage.
St. Charles East coach Len Asquini spoke on how his team was unable to come through in the spots it needed to most.
"We just have to execute. It got us again today," Asquini said. "[St. Charles North] is a team that's going to take advantage of your missed opportunities and I think that happened again today."
Jack Lawson tried to help the Saints get back into the game with an RBI double in the fifth inning, but White came on to get leadoff hitter Kyle Hayes to fly out to right field to end another East threat.
The Saints also committed five errors in the ballgame, a couple of which were forced by the North Stars being aggressive throughout Saturday's doubleheader opener. After falling behind 4-1 after two-and-a-half innings, North coach Todd Genke knew his team wasn't going to hang its heads.
After a leadoff walk by Najera and Nick DeMarco was hit by a pitch (for the 12th time this season), the No. 3 hitter Lobliner laid down a bunt that East pitcher Gavin Sitarz threw down the first base line. Both Najera and DeMarco came around to score to get North right back in the game.
"Answering back is a big part of what we do," Genke said. "It all starts with your approach at the plate. We took advantage of some free bases that they gave us and put the ball in play. I thought our small ballgame put some pressure on [East] and they didn't handle it that well. Answering back is huge, especially because if you don't do it right away you can get yourself into trouble."
White worked his way into and out of trouble after Jack Zitella's RBI single brought East to within one in the sixth, but the senior reliever picked up the save to preserve the victory for the North Stars.
"I think I came in trying to get deep into counts and strike guys out," White said. "But I wasn't hitting my spot as much as I'd like, so I just tried to throw strikes and let the defense make plays behind me."
The North Stars (18-3, 12-3 DuKane Conference) picked up the series sweep as DeMarco pitched a complete game, one-hit shutout in the second game of the doubleheader Saturday. He also hit a 3-run home run in a 7-0 North Stars victory.
East fell to 13-7-1 overall and 7-7-1 in DuKane Conference play.