Baseball: St. Charles North rallies late to beat Libertyville

St. Charles North baseball coach Todd Genke struggled to find the words to describe the final outcome of Saturday's game.

The North Stars had no business pulling out a 6-5 comeback win over Libertyville in nonconference play.

The North Stars (8-4) trailed by one run after the first inning, fell behind 3-1 following the third and were facing a 5-4 deficit in the top of the seventh. The Wildcats had everything on their side, scoring twice in the bottom of the sixth thanks to beating a throw at home plate off a slow roller and tacking on their final runs on a double-play grounder that ended the inning.

But the North Stars battled back with 2 runs in the top of the seventh, helped by a run-scoring single from Anthony Estrada to tie the game. St. Charles North scored the winning run on the aid a two-error play following an infield single.

The North Stars overcame every miscue, including two runners getting thrown out a third base in the sixth by Libertyville's catcher.

"There was some poetic justice," Genke said. "I just told my kids that I'm really proud of their resolve. There wasn't any panic in our dugout. We know Libertyville is a really good program."

In total, the North Stars belted 8 hits to hand the Wildcats (12-5) a rare nonconference home loss.

"It's high school baseball, and you will see some crazy things happen occasionally," Genke said. "I loved how we battled and our competitive nature. Everything wasn't going our way. We made a couple of baserunning mistakes, but we're really young and green in a lot of areas. That's why we play quality teams like Libertyville. It wasn't the way you draw a win up, but we'll take it."

Senior catcher Jayden Lobliner, who had one hit in the win, said the North Stars can build off the comeback win.

"It was a weird ending, but we made some big defensive plays and our bullpen kept us in the game," he said. "We had a couple of mistakes, but we can learn from this. This will help us come together and when the younger guys get experience, I'm excited to see us get better."

Right-hander Cole Schertz endured a long bullpen session before finally entering the game in the seventh. He picked up the save, retiring the first two batters on one pitch to close the door on a comeback bid by the Wildcats.

"I was in the bullpen a lot, but I had a goal in my mind and basically got it done," Schertz said. "It was a team effort. We focused on team-oriented play and did a great job in that last inning."

Libertyville coach Matt Thompson said it was a tough loss, especially after the Wildcats grabbed a 2-1 lead in the first inning following Cole Collins' 2-run double.

"Playing a good team, if you score and take the lead, you can't come back with a leadoff walk or we hit a guy once," Thompson said. "Those are the runs that come back and hurt you. Defensively, we've been really solid. We had a couple of plays get away from us, not making those plays when the game was on the line was tough. But you want to play a game like this to help in the playoffs."