North Stars handle pressure, edge Marmion in extra innings

St. Charles North baseball coach Todd Genke likes the Illinois High School Baseball Coaches Association summer regional tournament format because "it puts pressure on the kids and that's what I want to see."

With his team trailing 6-4 in the bottom of the seventh inning and, at one point, down to its final out, Genke watched his players perform under pressure, forcing the game into extra innings before an RBI single from

Jake Johansmeier enabled the North Stars (18-4) to pull out a 7-6 decision over visiting Marmion (14-6) in Tuesday's regional quarterfinals.

With the win, second-seeded St. Charles North advance to today's semifinals at St. Charles East at 4 p.m. St. Charles East is one of eight regionals in the annual summer tournament, named in honor of former Naperville Central coach Phil Lawler.

"We're not afraid to have a flair for the dramatic - and wait until the seventh inning," said Genke.

Down by 2, the North Stars began their seventh-inning rally with a leadoff single by David Gow, who eventually came across on John Munyon's sacrifice fly to make it 6-5.

Moments later, John Brodner delivered a clutch 2-out RBI single to tie the game at 6-6.

In the eighth, Johansmeier (3-for-4, double, walk) lined reliever A.J. Friedman's first pitch to right-center, sending courtesy runner Jake Smiley across with the game-winning run.

Johansmeier, who was called up to the varsity ranks as a sophomore this past spring, believed his team could make the late-inning comeback all along.

"I thought we were (in trouble) but I believe in every one of these guys out here," said Johansmeier. "We just hit and play our game. We're a good team and we believe that we're not going to get beat like that."

"It's all about confidence and right now he's got a lot of it and he's swinging the bat well," Genke said of the third baseman/pitcher.

Marmion, which grabbed a 1-0 first-inning lead on Tim Tarter's RBI double, quickly fell behind during the North Stars' 4-run bottom half of the frame that was highlighted by Josh Loynachan's 2-run double.

But the Cadets chipped away with single runs in the third and fourth before batting around during a 3-run sixth. Mitch Sterne (3-for-4, walk) had the key hit, a 2-run, bases-loaded single that put Marmion on top 5-4.

The fact that the Cadets were even in the game at that point was in strong part due to the success of relief pitchers Chris Simon and Travis Siwiec, who combined to toss 5 1/3 scoreless innings.

"Tim (Tarter) and Tyler (Friel) are our top two pitchers but Tarter threw over the weekend and Tyler threw yesterday so we didn't have them," said Marmion coach Dave Rakow. "The way our relievers pitched is a very encouraging sign."

There were plenty of other positives for the Cadets, who played errorless ball in the field and outhit St. Charles North 14-12.

"Sometimes you go out and play a good game and you don't win," said Rakow. "St. Charles North is one of the best programs in the state, and to go out there and play like that against them.

"It stinks that we lost but it's good for the program we're trying to build at Marmion."

North Stars reliever Justin Wightman pitched a pair of scoreless innings of his own to pick up the victory.

Neuqua Valley 4, Naperville Central 2: Scanning Neuqua Valley's lineup, on Tuesday the Wildcats handled the fourth spot particularly well.

Batting for pitcher Kevin Hodgman, designated hitter Ryan O'Keefe knocked a 2-run single in the first inning and an RBI double in the third.

That and Hodgman's 5 innings of 2-run ball, plus Mike Boger's 2 scoreless innings of relief, lifted No. 1 seed Neuqua Valley (27-3) to a 4-2 victory over No. 9 Naperville Central at the Glenbard South regional of the Phil Lawler Summer Classic.

Summer ball or not, eliminating the reigning state champion equals a good day.

"They did everything well today," said Wildcats coach Robin Renner, who seeks more pitching, hitting and defense in Wednesday's 2 p.m. regional semifinal against Benet, a 10-7 winner over Glenbard South.

Naperville Central (11-19) scored solo runs by Nick Majeski in the second and Nick Ryan in the third, but O'Keefe put Neuqua up for good in the bottom of the third. He singled home Jack Amaro and Tanner Giesel in the first and later doubled in Chris Medhurst. Jeff Samuel tripled and scored in the fourth.

"The designated hitter is hard just because that's all you're doing is hitting," said O'Keefe, also a third baseman. "So I try and stay loose and take some cuts."

- Dave Oberhelman