Chargers hang on to nip St. Charles East

Dundee-Crown took a big early lead, then held on for dear life. The Chargers survived a furious rally by St. Charles East for a 10-9 nonconference baseball victory in Carpentersville Tuesday.

Willy Larsen had 3 extra-base hits and drove in 4 runs for the Chargers, who won despite a monster day from the Saints' Ryan O'Dell. The junior third-baseman, batting ninth in the order, went 4-for-4 with a pair of home runs and 5 RBI.

Johnathan Erickson added a pair of hits for St. Charles East (1-5).

Brendon Schumacher (1-2) went the distance for D-C, walking 3 and striking out 2.

All 3 of Larsen's hits went to right field, as he took advantage of the wind howling in from left field.

"In warmups we noticed that the wind was coming hard from left to right," he said. "We figured if you can get the ball up in the air, we'll see what happens."

The Chargers took control with 5 runs in the first inning. Larsen's triple into the gap scored the game's first run. Larsen scored on Zach Vodicka's fielder's choice. Erik Brewer singled in 2 runs.

Larsen's second triple highlighted a 2-run second, and the Chargers (2-5-1) added a run in the third on Brewer's sacrifice fly.

But the Saints refused to go quietly, rallying for 6 runs in the fourth. The big blow was O'Dell's blast over the high fence in right.

Larsen capped his big day by doubling in 2 insurance runs in the sixth. That became huge when the Saints struck for 3 runs in the seventh. O'Dell's second homer made it 10-9, but Brewer snared Zach Scott's hard liner for the final out.

St. Charles coach Mark Foulkes was grateful for O'Dell's performance, but disappointed that the Saints dug themselves such a big hole.

"We're not a typical St. Charles team right now, but we'll find 9 guys who want to be," he said.

Larsen's big day gave the Chargers a lift.

"He's a senior. We've been struggling lately at the plate and seniors tend to come up and do certain things in situations like that," said Dundee-Crown coach Jon Sawyer.