Larkin’s Newquist no-hits St. Charles North

Whether Larkin pitcher Kyle Newquist gave up 1 hit or none in a 3-0 victory over visiting St. Charles North Thursday depended on your point of view, but there was no debating how thoroughly the 6-foot-2 right-hander dominated the North Stars.

Newquist (1-2), a junior who has started at quarterback for the Larkin football program since his sophomore year, demonstrated the poise of a veteran as he handcuffed the talented North Stars from start to finish. He was credited with a no-hitter in the home scorebook after striking out 12 North Stars and walking just one.

“I feel I’ve gotten into my pitching mode,” Newquist said. “It was hard to transition from the football to the baseball — It’s so opposite — but I think I’ve got it pretty much down now.”

The only potential St. Charles North hit occurred in the top of the sixth inning, when No. 8 hitter Dirk Schmitt pulled a line-hugging groundball deep behind the third-base bag. The four-hopper was bobbled by Larkin’s Cody Wahl, who never made a throw.

Whether or not Wahl could have thrown out Schmitt, a good runner, was a judgment call, though both coaches conceded it was hard to make a definitive determination.

“It was going to be a bang-bang play,” Larkin coach Matt Esterino said. “I don’t know. I think we gave him an error in the book.”

“I don’t know. That’s close,” said St. Charles North coach Todd Genke, whose scorebook recorded the play as a hit. “(Schmitt) is fast. I think (Wahl) would have had a hard time throwing him out from where he was. That’s a tough call. I would look at as potentially a hit, but that’s a tough call.”

Genke was more concerned with the 3 errors his team committed, each of which played a part in Larkin’s 3 runs.

“We struggled with the gloves the last time we played last week at South Elgin, and we struggled with it today,” Genke said. “They shouldn’t have scored any runs, but they executed and were able to scratch a couple out.”

Larkin (8-5, 3-3) attacked St. Charles North left-hander Phil Warner (2-1) before he could settle in on a frigid afternoon. Leadoff hitter Trevor Whitehead singled sharply to open the first inning, Drew Shore followed with a walk and Victor Saldana subsequently chopped a slow roller toward shortstop that never reached the infield skin.

St. Charles North’s shortstop gathered the slow roller and threw to first too late to get to Saldana, and his low throw skipped away, allowing Whitehead to score. One out later, Wahl made it 2-0 with his RBI groundout.

“The first inning I was struggling with command and couldn’t really hit the spots I wanted to,” Warner said. “I felt after that I was able to find more control.”

Warner (2-1) held the Royals to 2 earned runs on 3 hits in 6 innings of work. The left-hander finished with 8 strikeouts and 2 walks.

The Royals took a 3-0 lead in the fifth. Junior Robbie Rybachowski led off with a single and attempted to steal second. Warner had him picked off first base, but the St. Charles North first baseman dropped the pickoff throw, and the error allowed Rybachowski to go first to third.

He scored on contact when Whitehead’s two-hopper against a drawn-in infield caromed off the second baseman’s glove for an error.