Baseball: Auer steps up, pitches St. Charles North past South Elgin for regional crown

It is safe to say that Ben Auer is the ace of St. Charles North’s pitching staff.

Prior to the season, the North Stars suffered a pair of big-time losses on the mound when hard-throwing right-hander Keaton Reinke elected to graduate early so he could focus on his collegiate football career at Northwestern, and an injury cut short Matt Ritchie’s junior campaign.

“Everybody talked about how we don’t have Keato (Reinke) and we don’t have (Matt) Ritchie,” said North Stars coach Todd Genke. “He’s (Auer) like, ‘Coach, I’ll step up, I can do it,’ — and he did.”

Auer, a senior right-hander tossed 5 innings of 1-run ball while helping his own cause with 3 base hits and a pair of RBI during the North Stars’ 3-2 Class 4A regional championship victory over 2nd-seeded South Elgin Saturday in St. Charles.

“They beat us last year (4-3 in the regional finals) so there was a little something extra going into this one,” said Auer, who threw 40-plus pitches during St. Charles North’s 3-1 regional semifinal victory over Dundee-Crown on Wednesday.

“It just feels great to beat them.”

The 3rd-seeded North Stars (23-12-1) grabbed a 1-0 lead in the third off South Elgin standout pitcher Zach Barkho.

Reed Raczka sliced a 1-out triple down the right-field line and came across on Auer’s RBI single for the game’s first run.

“We’ve had multiple guys step up like Reed Raczka,” said Genke. “After Cam (Chickerneo) got hurt, Reed stepped in and has had one heck of a season.”

St. Charles North added a pair of runs in the fifth.

Tyler Gleason led off with a double and took third on Charlie Major’s bunt single. After a fielder’s choice resulted in an out at home, Nick Gnutek was hit by a pitch to load the bases for Auer, who delivered a first-pitch RBI single.

“You talk about a kid stepping up both on the mound and offensively,” Genke said of Auer, who scattered 5 hits with 7 strikeouts while finishing 3 for 4 at the plate. “He was so good today. Everything I called he pretty much put it where it was supposed to be against a good-hitting team.”

Alex Muro, who had 2 of South Elgin’s 5 hits, helped the Storm cut into the deficit with an RBI single in the fifth.

In the sixth, back-to-back, 1-out walks from Jacob Robertson and Kyle Iott put runners on first and second before senior reliever Josh Kobylinski replaced Landon Paul on the mound.

Kobylinski worked out of the jam with a strikeout and fly ball to right fielder Julian Harmon, then retired the 1-2-3 hitters in order in the seventh for his fifth save.

“It was a lot,” Kobylinski said of the situation. “It was a big regional game, but I knew I had my team behind me. Nolan (second baseman Macholz) made a couple great plays there (in the seventh).”

“Josh had an ERA below 1.00 in conference, and our conference is no slouch,” said Genke. “We’re not fearful of putting him in any situation. He throws strikes, he’s low in the zone with a 3-pitch mix, and he just comes at you.”

The North Stars, who earned their 11th regional title since 2007, will face top-seeded Huntley in Wednesday’s McHenry sectional semifinals (4:30 p.m.).

“It’s just never easy,” said Genke. “It’s exciting to be in this situation again.”

South Elgin finished its season at 24-13.

“You couldn’t ask for anything more as a coach,” said Storm coach David Palmer. “Our guys poured it all out there.

“They (North Stars) were the better team today.”