St. Charles East explodes for 25 runs vs. Larkin
The hit parade seemed never-ending as the St. Charles East baseball team turned Tuesday's Upstate Eight contest at Larkin into no contest after half an inning.
Motivated by what coach David Haskins termed "mental mistakes" in Monday's 7-6 victory over the Royals, the Saints exploded for 12 first-inning runs on 10 hits, a walk and 2 hit batsmen, and they never let up in an eventual 25-2 rout in five innings.
St. Charles East (12-4, 6-2) sent 16 hitters to the plate in the top of the first inning, the first nine of whom reached base and later scored, in an onslaught that lasted 32 minutes.
"Nobody wanted to make the first out," said Johnathan Erickson, who doubled and singled in the first inning and drove in 4 runs.
"One guys gets it going and everybody gets it going after that," said Saints cleanup hitter Ryan O'Dell, who also had 2 hits in the first inning and finished the game 5-for-5 with 2 doubles, a solo home run and 3 RBI. "It's kind of like a domino effect."
St. Charles East's first inning wasn't just prolific but historic. According to IHSA records, the Saints' 12-run first ties them for the 49th-best single-inning scoring outburst in state history. Their 10 hits rate a tie for 24th all-time in a single inning, and their 11 RBI ties for the 24th-most in an inning.
The Saints finished with 19 hits. Larkin (4-12, 3-5) notched 8 hits of its own for a combined total of 27, the 44th-highest combined hit total in an IHSA game.
Hitting heroes were everywhere for the Saints: Erickson finished 3-for-3 with a double, 5 RBI and 2 runs scored; Tom Laudadio went 2-for-4 with a 3-run triple and a 3-run home run; and Robert Wendt went 3-for-4 with a home run, 3 RBI and 3 runs.
The first nine Saints reached base against Larkin sophomore pitcher Drew Shore (0-3), who lasted 1/3 of an inning. Three subsequent Larkin pitchers allowed a total of 14 more runs as St. Charles East scored twice in the second inning, four times each in the third and fourth and three more times in the fifth. Of the Saints' 25 runs, 21 were earned.
"They came out and hit it," Larkin coach Matt Esterino said of the Saints. "It will be interesting to see how we respond. That will be the true test. We got punched in the mouth. Turn the page and now you have to go back to work.
"That wasn't us today. We were flat in pregame, we didn't bring the energy that we usually do and they hit. Credit to them, they came out and hit. But some of the little things like missing the cuts and not knowing where we're supposed to be - that's inexcusable - so we'll learn from it."
Larkin scored its 2 in the second inning against senior left-hander Tommy Konrad (3-1). Justin Lewis led off with a solo home run to left and Lee Jackson (3-for-3, 2 runs) singled to drive in a run with two outs.