Baseball: Estrada, St. Charles North blow past Wheaton Warrenville South
Anthony Estrada certainly lives up to the billing of "workhorse."
Estrada, the St. Charles North senior pitcher, even seems to relish it.
"He's a big, strong kid, and he does get stronger as the game goes on," North Stars coach Todd Genke said following their 12-2 victory over Wheaton Warrenville South in five innings Monday. "That's why we wanted to stretch him out a little today.
"I thought he threw really well. I thought he made some really good pitches."
Estrada fashions his fastball and changeup, in particular, to keep bats as quiet as possible. The Tigers managed just three hits, while Estrada struck out four and walked two in the dominant effort.
"The changeup was good, thought his breaking ball was solid, [and] he was hitting both sides of the plate with his fastball, so when he pitches that way, we've got a good chance to beat anybody, so it was nice to see him have a good outing," Genke said.
After diligent offseason work on his changeup, Estrada is now seeing the results he'd been hoping to see.
"It's probably one of my go-to breaking pitches, for sure," Estrada said. "I love going to that one. Curve is good as well, but that one is for sure my strikeout pitch."
The North Stars (6-1-1) opened DuKane Conference play Monday and harassed Tigers starting pitcher Casey Farrell from the get-go, scoring seven runs in the opening inning and chasing him after just one inning.
The Tigers had an error to open the game, and the North Stars capitalized with two consecutive RBI singles from Mike Buono and Colin Ryder. After Estrada reached on a hit-by-pitch, Will Vaske smoked another RBI single for the 3-0 North Stars lead.
Jaden Harmon was hit by a pitch, which brought in a run, and Brad Lins reached on a fielder's choice to score another to make it 5-0 North Stars. Lins stole second, and the throw to second skipped away to allow Vaske to score. Jackson Spring's RBI double to complete the full batting order capped off the seven-run inning.
Buono added an RBI single in the second inning, and Vaske reached on a fielder's choice to score a run in the fourth to make it 9-0 St. Charles North. WW South managed a two-run double in the fifth, but the North Stars responded with three runs in the bottom half to finish the convincing showing.
Spring, who moved from the nine-hole to leadoff hitter this season, is an athletic and reliable piece to get the North Stars going.
"[I'm] taking on that role, and that guy has got to get on base," Spring said.
Add in his defense - like grabbing a pop out to close the third inning while on the run toward foul territory - and Spring is becoming a complete player for the North Stars.
"I think it's about being ready every pitch. That's what all our coaches tell us: anticipating the play before it happens [is important]," Spring added about his defensive web-gem.
The Tigers had seven total errors on the afternoon.
"It's really the errors. To hand a good team like St. Charles North seven free bases, I mean, you can't beat anybody like that," Tigers coach John Scherrman said. "They get the key hits when they need to. They just put pressure on us, and [we] handed them too many [free] bases. We were just too sloppy.
"Against a good pitcher, you cant bury yourself 8-0 after two innings."