Saints smoke Waubonsie Valley
On a day better suited for a duck, St. Charles East's Tyler Deetjen didn't let the inclement conditions get to him.
Before the rains came, the senior left-hander allowed a first-inning run.
After that, a steady drizzle began falling but Deetjen got better as the game sloshed along, shutting down Waubonsie Valley (1-5, 0-1) the rest of the way during the Saints' rain-shortened 7-1 victory in both teams' Upstate Eight Conference diamond debut.
Deetjen (1-1) walked a pair and recorded 8 strikeouts -- 6 over the final 3 innings.
"Tyler was very sharp today, especially in these conditions," said Saints coach Mark Foulkes, whose team improved to 2-3 overall, 1-0 in UEC play. "He wanted to attack today and he came out throwing a lot of first-pitch strikes. He got ahead of a lot of hitters, and if he did get to a 3-2 count, he challenged them.
"He was very efficient. It definitely was a great start for him."
Deetjen, who struck out the side in the fifth, admittedly had some problems gripping the ball as conditions gradually deteriorated during the game's final inning.
"It was pretty wet," said Deetjen. "The first four (innings) were fine but it got slick that last inning.
"It's my first good start of the year. It's nice to come back after a couple bad starts and get back in the groove."
After the Warriors' Chris Galovic laced a 2-out triple to bring home Brad Custer (walked) in the top of the first, the Saints answered with the tying run in the bottom half of the frame.
Zach Scott led off with a walk, stole second and scored on Mike Hoscheit's RBI single.
In the second, the Saints squandered a scoring opportunity, stranding runners on second and third with one out as Warriors starting pitcher Ryan Servos (0-1) recorded back-to-back strikeouts to end the threat.
But the Saints capitalized on another scoring chance in the third.
Scott, who finished 2-for-2 with 3 runs scored, led off with a single and advanced to third after walks to Johnathan Erickson and Hoscheit loaded the bases with nobody out.
Steve Schenck reached on an infield error, as Scott raced home with the go-ahead run to make it 2-1.
Tom Lollino's RBI bloop single just inside the right-field line upped the lead to 3-1 and the Saints added their third run of the inning on a double play grounder.
St. Charles East added 3 insurance runs in the fourth, highlighted by Scott's RBI triple that one-hopped the fence in right-center.
"I was just looking for an early fastball to hit and he threw me one relatively over the plate so I just took it (to right)," said Scott.
Waubonsie managed just 4 base hits, 2 of which were of the infield variety.
"That's how it's been so far this season," said Warriors coach Dan Fezzuoglio. "Not enough hitting, too many walks from our pitchers and fielding problems at the wrong time.
"We'll come back tomorrow (in Aurora) and get another chance at them."