St. Charles East tops W. Aurora 11-0

So far, so good for Dave Haskins in his new job.

Haskins, who came to St. Charles East this summer from Prairie Ridge where he won a state title, and his Saints opened the IHSBCA summer tournament with an 11-0 victory in 4½ innings over No. 10 West Aurora.

The seventh-seeded Saints (12-5) play either Kaneland or Aurora Christian at 4 p.m. today.

The semifinals of the St. Charles East regional are at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. Wednesday. The regional championship game is set for 4 p.m. Thursday, with the winner advancing to next week's state tournament in Naperville.

"It's going well; I love it here," said Haskins, whose Saints recently had a 10-game winning streak snapped but put 5 runs on the board in the second and third innings to cruise Monday.

"A great place to be, great community, great school and a great group of kids. The kids are playing well, good pitching and definitely timely hitting and great defense."

Johnathan Erickson is one of the Saints adjusting to a new coach after Mark Foulkes resigned in May. He went 3-for-4 with a double, 4 RBI and 2 runs against West Aurora.

Ryan O'Dell, who hit just before Erickson in the lineup, went 2-for-2 with 3 RBI. Both smoked line drives over the center fielder's head for 2-run doubles in the second inning. Ryan Sotern and T.J. Travis each added 2 hits.

"New coach has been great," Erickson said. "He's come in, told us how it's going to be, and we've responded really well to it."

Saints starter Tommy Konrad (4-0) threw the first 3 innings, allowing no runs on 2 hits with 4 strikeouts.

"We've got a bunch of lefties who throw the ball well and get the job done," Haskins said. "I'm excited. Wes Benjamin (will pitch) tomorrow and hopefully we'll get the same results. They're working hard. We're talking about a different mentality and expecting to win. We've got high expectations."

Eddie Kane took the loss for the Blackhawks.

West Aurora coach John Reeves got married last weekend and is on his honeymoon. Assistant Bill Mitchinson filled in Monday as the Blackhawks finished "about a .500" summer.

"When they had some guys on base to drive in they did a good job of that," Mitchinson said. "One of the main highlights of the summer is we got a lot of kids experience on the mound that coming into the summer didn't have it."