Defense shines in St. Charles North's 9th straight win

Without the benefit of a single extra-base hit, St. Charles North's baseball team manufactured a gem Tuesday afternoon.

While senior Ryan Hudspeth and sophomore Jake Johansmeier combined on a 5-hit shutout, the North Stars (28-4, 20-3) flashed some leather defensively and displayed plenty of heads-up baserunning during their 5-0 Upstate Eight Conference triumph over South Elgin (18-11, 13-10) in St. Charles.

"That's the best defensive effort we've had all year," said North Stars coach Todd Genke, whose team extended its winning streak to 9 while maintaining its 1-game lead over Waubonsie Valley (which defeated Larkin 8-0 on Tuesday) in UEC play with 2 games remaining.

"Guys were just throwing the leather all over the place. It takes teams out of innings when you can defend like that."

The defensive heroics included catcher Matt Stevens picking a runner off of first base to end the second inning; third baseman Kevin Borst's nifty play on a slow 1-hopper with 2 runners aboard in the sixth; first baseman Mike Budka's scoop of a low throw to complete a double play in the seventh; and Borst's diving stab of a grounder for the game's final out.

"That play Mike Budka made in the seventh was incredible," said Genke. "Normally that ball gets by your first baseman and you have all kinds of problems."

One of the main benefactors was Hudspeth (7-0), who raised his regular-season varsity record to 13-0 over the past 2 seasons with 5 2/3 innings of 4-hit ball. Hudspeth has not lost a regular-season contest in 4 years of high school action.

"The game plan was simple for me - I wanted to trust my stuff, throw strikes and let the defense play," said the senior southpaw who fanned 4 and walked 4. "I trust my defense and the defense was great today."

In addition to his fastball and slider, Hudspeth used a changeup to keep the Storm hitters off-balance.

"My changeup is my out pitch and it was there for me today," said Hudspeth.

"Ryan changes speeds well," Genke said of his starting pitcher. "They're a good hitting club and I know they like to hit the fastball. He (Hudspeth) was able to mix his speeds and he got ahead."

The North Stars took a 1-0 lead in the second after 1-out singles by Chase Williams and John Brodner preceded a wild pitch and Andrew Elliot's sacrifice fly.

In the fourth, St. Charles North added another run as Stevens walked and courtesy runner David Gow raced to third after an errant pickoff attempt before coming across on a wild pitch.

The North Stars put the game out of reach during a 3-run fifth that included 3 walks, Budka's RBI sacrifice fly and 1 base hit - a bunt single by Jake Bergren. They even capitalized on a dropped third strike as Ryan Richardson raced home from second base.

"I thought we ran the bases well today," said Genke. "We read the ball in the dirt well and took advantage of that."

Kenny Lowden (4-3) suffered the loss for South Elgin despite giving up 4 hits and just 3 earned runs. The Storm also stranded 9 runners, including 6 over the final 3 innings.

"It's a shame," said Storm coach Jim Kating. "It was a great game to watch and then we imploded and I don't know what happened. We seem as of late to have that one inning creep up and bite us."

The North Stars will try to clinch a share of the UEC title when the series resumes today in South Elgin.

"We want to finish strong," said Hudspeth. "We want to get these next two games for conference (title) and we want to get to the 30-win mark."