Budka delivers for North Stars
At the beginning of the baseball season, Mike Budka wasn't even a member of the St. Charles North varsity.
In the first week of postseason play, however, Budka has quickly become Mr. Clutch.
For the second consecutive game, the sophomore late-season call-up came through with the game-winning basehit, as his 2-run fifth-inning single helped lift St. Charles North (23-11) to an 8-3 triumph over Lake Park during Saturday's Class 4A regional championship contest in Elk Grove.
"It's a great feeling," said Budka, who lined a 3-2 pitch to right field with 2 outs in the fifth as the North Stars turned a 3-2 deficit into a 5-3 lead. "It's the second game in a row where I was just trying to hit it anywhere and be protective."
After hitting .510 on the sophomore team, Budka was brought up to the varsity squad a couple weeks before the end of the regular season.
"He was hitting the ball like crazy at the sophomore level all year long," said North Stars coach Todd Genke. "He attacks the ball -- it doesn't matter what the count is, and he usually hits a line drive somewhere."
Third-seeded St. Charles North, which will face No. 2 Wheaton North in Thursday's Larkin sectional semifinals, grabbed a 1-0 lead with an unearned run in the second inning.
But the sixth-seeded Lancers countered with 3 runs of their own in the third, all coming on a bizarre play with the bases loaded and two outs.
Matt Kennedy hit a groundball to the right side of the infield and reached on a throwing error.
As the ball continued to roll along the backstop, 2 runs scored as North Stars catcher Matt Stevens retrieved it and, with nobody covering home, Brian Norwood raced home with the inning's third run.
"It was just a tough play, an in-between type of play," Genke said.
"We caught a break getting the 3 runs, but we just couldn't make it hold up," said Lancers coach Dan Colucci.
Despite a baserunning blunder, the North Stars whittled the gap to 3-2 in the fourth when Jordan Huxtable raced home on a passed ball, setting the stage for their 3-run fifth-inning rally.
"I thought that was big because we made a baserunning mistake right before that," said Genke, who also watched one of his players get picked off of first in the second inning.
Pinch-hitter Brandon Nothnagel capped the 3-run fifth with an RBI single, and the North Stars added 3 insurance runs in the sixth, thanks to Brian De la Torriente's 2-run single and an RBI ground-rule double off the bat of sophomore catcher Matt Stevens.
Junior southpaw Zach Hirsch (5-3) did the rest, striking out 10 while tossing a 4-hitter.
"We made too many mistakes on the bases -- we've got to clean that up," Genke said. "But the rest of the day belonged to Zach Hirsch. I'm just real proud of that kid. He's tough."
Lake Park, meanwhile, finished its season at 20-16.
"The guys were able to get me my 200th (win) the other day," Colucci said. "That was a special thing for these guys. But 201 (wins) would have been a little nicer."