St. Charles E. 7, WIllowbrook 2

Mary Beth Nolan/mnolan@dailyherald.com

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It's important to come ready to play because baseball games can be won or lost in the first inning.

St. Charles East senior catcher Steve Schenck drove the third pitch of the game over the left-field fence to fuel a 3-run first, and that turned out to be all of the offensive support senior left-hander Tyler Deetjen would need during the Saints' 7-2 Class 4A regional semifinal victory over Willowbrook Thursday afternoon in Wheaton.

Schenck, who took over as the Saints' leadoff hitter midway through the season, got the game started on a positive note for the visitors with his first-inning home run that came on a low inside pitch.

"I've been working a lot with coach (Gary) Spratt in the cages on low inside pitches," said Schenck, who added a seventh-inning double while going 3-for-4. "I don't try to hit for much power -- I just try to hit line drives and get on base."

After Schenck's second home run of the season, Johnathan Erickson (2-for-3) and Mike Hoscheit (2-for-3) singled and eventually scored on RBI groundouts from Zach Scott and Tom Lollino, respectively.

"You couldn't ask for anything more out of a first inning -- getting three runs and putting a little pressure on them," said Saints coach Mark Foulkes. "We were fortunate enough to find some pitches to drive in the first (inning)."

The Saints added a pair of unearned runs in the third to up their lead to 5-0, and Deetjen (5-2) fired 1-hit ball over the first four innings before the seventh-seeded Warriors (20-16) fought back.

Jordan Grevis' single, sandwiched between walks to Andy Wilhoit and Dean Whiteside, loaded the bases for pinch-hitter Brian Hennig, whose 2-run, fifth-inning single narrowed the gap to 5-2.

But the Warriors were unable to get any closer, thanks in part to first baseman Andy Grunewald's stop of a hard-hit grounder with runners on first and third in the fifth.

"If we shoot the ball down the line there, we score two runs for sure and now it's a different game," said Willowbrook coach Steve Gilliam. "But that's baseball."

Willowbrook also left the bases loaded in the sixth, as Deetjen recorded a called-third strike to end the threat. The southpaw fanned four and walked three.

"I've really spent the last week working on my off-speed pitches," said Deetjen. "I changed my approach today from trying to strike everybody out to just trying to get groundballs."

"I've been catching him for two years and that was definitely one of the best games he's ever pitched," Schenck said.

With the win, the 11th-seeded Saints will take on No. 2 seed Wheaton North at 2:30 p.m. Saturday for the regional championship.

"Wheaton North is the DuPage Valley Conference champion and they're the two seed for a reason," said Foulkes. "We know we'll have our hands full."

Andy Bejlovec (4-3) suffered the loss for the senior-heavy Warriors.

"These (12) seniors have got 45 wins in two years and that's a school record," said Gilliam. "That's a tribute to these guys."