Baseball: St. Charles North runs win streak to 12

It wasn't one North Star that did the damage in the St. Charles North baseball team's 12-0, five-inning win at Bartlett on Saturday.

More like the whole constellation.

Six players claimed extra basehits, six enjoyed multihit games and eight of nine hit safely as the North Stars improved to 14-2.

"We just come out and try to play with the most intensity we can and we just put a lot of good swings on the ball," said St. Charles North cleanup hitter Kyle Novotney, who went 2-for-4 with a double, a triple and 3 RBI. "This is a nice ballpark to hit at, too, so we were seeing the ball really well."

Brendan Joyce opened the Upstate Eight crossover with a home run to left field, his second leadoff homer this season.

"It was nice to keep it going," said Joyce, 7-of-13 during a 4-game hitting streak. "Clearly, a 12-0 win, that's awesome to see."

Joyce's longball set the tone for a 15-hit attack so typical of a St. Charles North offense averaging 10.2 runs over a 12-game win streak that began in Myrtle Beach, S.C. on March 31.

"Offensively, we've had some guys hot and cold and now it seems like we're getting solid approaches throughout the lineup," North coach Todd Genke said. "It all starts with Joyce when he swings the bat well and gets on base."

Joyce went 3-for-4 with 2 RBI. He collected 2 hits in the first inning alone.

"We knew we had a challenge coming and we knew we had to do our very best to compete," said Bartlett coach Chris Pemberton, whose team fell to 5-11. "They're clearly ahead of where we're at at this time. It's a good learning experience for us."

St. Charles North improved its record against teams from Illinois to 11-0 with the help of 4 shutout innings from No. 3 starter Ryan Litavecz. The right-handed junior used a well-located fastball and sharp breaking ball to hold the Hawks scoreless on 2 hits over 4 innings. He struck out 6 and issued 1 walk. Chris Sawicki pitched a scoreless fifth to close out the victory.

"I just wanted to go out there and throw strikes," Litavecz said. "I have a really good defense so I just wanted to pound the zone with strikes and let them make plays for me."

The North Stars put the game away in the top of the fourth inning. They scored 6 more runs on 6 hits and an error, highlighted by run-scoring doubles from Novotney, Sam Faith and Erik Rabin.

"We're all starting to click," Novotney said. "The bats are coming along and the pitching is great every game. We're starting to play our best baseball."

Cameron Mays and Mike Prang accounted for Bartlett's 2 hits.