Baseball: Thiesse goes to work for St. Charles North

Cleaning the concrete dugout floor fell to Ryan Thiesse after a home game against St. Charles East Monday.

The St. Charles North junior used one of those industrial push brooms to sweep away an afternoon's worth of sunflower seeds and dislodged cleat dirt.

It was his second sweep of the day.

Thiesse and the North Stars used their hot bats to beat the rival Saints 13-3 in five innings and complete a three-game DuKane Conference series sweep.

League-leader St. Charles North (19-6, 14-1) won its 10th straight game by pounding 12 hits in support of starting pitcher John Hamer. The senior right-hander improved to 5-1 by holding St. Charles East to 2 earned runs on 3 hits. He struck out 4 in 4 innings.

Thiesse (pronounced Tee-zee), went 3-for-3 with a double and 2 RBI and scored 3 runs.

"We just stay with our approach and keep the train rolling," he said.

The North Stars scored double-digit runs for the third straight game and the sixth time during the 10-game winning streak. They took advantage of the St. Charles East bullpen, which was forced into action from the start because the scheduled starting pitcher fell ill during the school day.

"It starts with the approach at the plate," St. Charles North coach Todd Genke said. "Guys are buying in. We're walking and getting hit by pitches and we're executing when we need to. And it's up and down the lineup."

Eight of nine St. Charles North batters in the starting lineup had a hit. Collectively, the North Stars went 12-for-27 to raise the team batting average to .312. Sophomores Andrew Jimenez and Nick DeMarco collected 2 hits apiece.

Jimenez, said he enjoyed watching teammates Patrick Bellock, DeMarco and Thiesse drive in 5 runs with hits in consecutive fourth-inning at-bats. The North Stars scored 6 runs in the frame to take an 11-3 lead.

"I love seeing other players on my team have success as much as I like having success," said Jimenez, who drove in a game-high 3 runs.

St. Charles East (14-8-1, 9-6), which won 13 of its first 17 games, lost for the fifth time in six outings. The Saints finished with 4 errors and 3 hits.

There was a lengthy players-only meeting in right field after coach Len Asquini and longtime assistant Mark Foulkes addressed the team. Captain Thomas Schroeder - the only senior in Monday's lineup - did most of the talking.

"Hopefully, we get some stuff together," Asquini said. "It hasn't been a good six games for us. We have to try to clean up. Fill the dam, that's what we have to do. We have some holes out there and we have to try to fill the dam and get us moving toward better baseball for the tournament. That's kind of what we're going for now."

Clay Conn, Cole Conn and Luke Matheny singled and drove in runs for St. Charles East.