St. Charles N. doubles up Batavia
Early on in Wednesday afternoon’s St. Charles North at Batavia game, it was evident that it would not be a finesse game. There would be no pitchers’ duel or game-saving defensive play gem.
The outcome of this game was determined at home plate by players giving their all to their swings and sending pitches to the fence with regularly. John Wayne would have loved this game. Tim Allen might have done his “Home Improvement” grunt had he been present.
Each squad got in touch with their primal offense. The North Stars, however, did it more often than the Bulldogs and went home with a 14-7 series opening victory.
A total of 25 hits made their way onto the stat sheet with St. Charles North racking up 15 including eight in the final two innings when they scored nine runs.
The North Stars (15-7, 9-3 Upstate Eight Conference) had not played since Friday and coach Todd Genke wondered how his team would respond. They answered with the continued improved play he has seen of late.
“We’re starting to wake up. Guys are starting to play to their real potential. We stress the importance of the count and getting the right pitch to hit. We hit the ball well today and in gaps,” he said.
St. Charles North led 2-0 after two innings. Leadoff hitter Brandon Drawant singled in the first and scored on Jake Johansmeier’s base hit, the first of three by him in the game.
In the second, Eric Nelson tripled to center and was plated by a single to right from Adam Delisi.
Batavia (11-10, 9-7) enjoyed its best time of the game in its half of the second when it erupted for five runs on six hits. RBI base hits from Mich Coffey and Robbie Bowman and a two-run double to left by Sam Burnoski sparked the rally.
The North Stars responded immediately with three runs on five hits in the third. An RBI double by John Brodner, his first of three RBI on the afternoon, and run-scoring base hits from Nick Gilmore and Carl Formento helped build the 5-all deadlock.
“Hitting is contagious. I wasn’t sure of our mentality being behind 5-2 in the second. But we didn’t quit,” Genke said.
The Bulldogs took the lead one more time at 7-5 in the fifth. Luke Horton’s RBI single and a fielding error helped Batavia.
And then the gates opened on the North Stars’ offense. It scored four runs in the sixth and five runs in the fifth.
An RBI single by Formento and a run-scoring groundball out by Drawant boosted the North Star offense in the sixth. Brodner’s two-run triple in the seventh along with an RBI double from Gilmore and run-scoring single from Jake Smiley helped put a seal on the victory.
“It’s always fun winning,” Brodner said. “We’re happy everybody is getting hits and everything is working well.”
Batavia coach Matt Holm isn’t concerned about the Bulldogs’ hitting. It’s other aspects of Batavia’s game.
“We hit the ball well. We left only a couple of guys on base. But if we pitch just one option (fastball) to the hitters, the ball is going to be driven,” he said. “Our No. 1 and No. 2 starters are injured and the juniors are going to have to step up.”