Baseball: St. Charles East frustrates Geneva again

For the second straight day Geneva pitchers handcuffed St. Charles East hitters and for the second straight day the Saints escaped with a win anyway.

The visiting St. Charles East baseball team managed to win the middle game of the 3-game Upstate Eight River series 3-1 despite not managing a hit against Geneva pitching until the top of the seventh inning.

The Saints tied the game 1-1 in that frame when Justin Galante scored on a passed ball. They took advantage of a critical Geneva mistake to score twice in the eighth.

Meanwhile, St. Charles East (8-3, 3-0) played error free for the second straight game.

"This whole series has been mostly defense," said Saints junior Steve Abruzzo, who pitched two scoreless relief innings for his first varsity win. "It's about taking advantage of any mistakes they make."

With the game tied 1-1 in the top of the eighth, John Carroll led off with a single, stole second and moved to third on a two-out groundout by Patrick Griffin. Abruzzo was then intentionally walked.

With runners on the corners, Geneva reliever Brad Bowman attempted to pick Griffin off first base but the throw got away, allowing Carroll to score easily.

Galante then delivered a run-scoring single to center field to make it 3-1. The senior left fielder registered 2 of St. Charles East's 4 hits.

"We've been struggling at the plate but anybody can get it done," Galante said. "Any way you can get it done. You only have to have one more (run) on the board."

Geneva (5-5, 2-2) has limited the Saints to 6 hits in 15 innings, yet the Vikings have nothing to show for it, partly due to their 4 errors. Both St. Charles East runs in Tuesday's 2-1 victory were unearned.

"This is a hard loss right here," first-year Geneva coach Brad Wendell said. "Dropping these two in a row, for us it's going to be a nice test for us to see how we respond. Tough loss. How do we respond? It's still early in the season. I think we've got guys who can play and get the job done. We just have to do it. We have to make it happen."

Geneva starting pitcher Noah Davison kept the Saints in check. The senior right-hander held them scoreless for 5-plus innings on a hit and 2 walks. He struck out 2.

Davison ran into trouble in the sixth inning when he allowed a leadoff single to Thomas Adams and issued a walk to John DelloStritto. Wendell opted at that point for reliever Matt Evert, who induced two flyball outs before walking Griffin to load the bases. However, Evert made an athletic play to snag Abruzzo's comebacker to end the threat and preserve Geneva's 1-0 lead.

The Saints broke though in the seventh. Galante scored on a passed ball with one out. He opened the inning by bouncing a hard comebacker off Bowman for East's first hit.

"I'm excited," said Galante, who went 2-for-4. "We've struggled with Geneva throughout our entire careers at East. From freshman year and every single year it's always been a battle with these guys. It's always been close. It's nice to win the series as a senior on the varsity."

Abruzzo, the team's designated closer, entered a 1-1 game in the seventh and threw two scoreless innings with 3 strikeouts. That stint included stranding potential winning run Jack Olson in the bottom of the seventh after he reached third base with one out.

"We pitched well and we played good defense again and at the end we generated something," St. Charles East coach Len Asquini said.

The teams conclude the series Thursday at St. Charles East.