Baseball: Breidigan, St. Charles East top Geneva for regional crown
Baseball's loss is chemical engineering's gain when it comes to St. Charles East senior Matt Breidigan.
Though he "strongly considered" offers from Division-III college programs to continue pitching, the right-hander felt his best life choice was to hang up the cleats and pursue his love of science and chemistry by studying chemical engineering next year at the University of Wisconsin.
If Saturday's 2-1 victory over No. 6 seed Geneva in the Class 4A St. Charles East regional championship game was Breidigan's farewell to competitive baseball, he went out on a high note.
The 6-foot-3, 200-pound hurler limited the Vikings to 2 hits and a walk and he struck out 2 in a 76-pitch masterpiece, and his teammates manufactured 2 runs against Geneva ace Noah Davison to secure St. Charles East's first regional title since 2013, when the Saints finished third in the state.
"I don't think I've ever thrown that few pitches in a game," Breidigan said. "Before the game we decided we were going to work them outside and see if they could hit my best stuff away. We just stuck with that throughout the game and, fortunately, it worked for us."
St. Charles East (23-14) advances to a Schaumburg sectional semifinal on Thursday at 4:30 p.m. The Saints will take on Upstate Eight River rival Batavia, which defeated UEC Valley champion Glenbard East 13-8 to win the Glenbard West regional.
The Saints found a way to win the program's 17th regional title and its ninth under 13-year coach Len Asquini despite managing only 2 hits and committing 3 errors.
"You just need one more run than your opponent and we were able to do that," Asquini said.
The veteran coach set the wheels in motion for the Saints to jump to a second-inning lead. With the bases loaded with one out for No. 9 hitter Thomas Adams, Asquini called for a suicide squeeze, which Adams executed perfectly. Davison was forced to field the ball and throw to first base as courtesy runner Justin Galante crossed the plate for a 1-0 lead.
"(Asquini) called me over when they were chatting with their pitcher," Adams said. "He said, 'Second pitch you're going to squeeze. Take the first one.' Maybe they wouldn't expect it second pitch if I didn't (show bunt) on the first one."
However, the Saints gave that run right back by committing 2 errors in the top of the third. Jeremy Davis scored from third on an errant throw to first base.
Geneva (23-12) committed an error to open the bottom of the third inning on a slow tapper by John Carroll. The mistake proved costly as Carroll later scored on a fielder's choice by Jim Dale to stake the Saints to a 2-1 lead.
Breidigan did the rest, including stranding two Vikings on base in the sixth via a strikeout and groundout.
The loss ended the 12-career of Geneva coach Matt Hahn. He finishes with a record of 257-153, including regional titles in 2007 and 2008. Eleven of his 12 teams won 20 games or more. The other won 19.
"I have no regrets. I've loved it all," Hahn said. "I could rattle off all kinds of numbers, but I've really enjoyed the kids. I'm not quitting cold turkey; I'll still be around the athletic program. I look forward to the next chapter, wherever that brings me."