Baseball: Conn's clutch hit lifts St. Charles East over Wheaton Warrenville South
St. Charles East second baseman Clay Conn took the aggressive approach in a 5-2 home win over Wheaton Warrenville South Tuesday.
The junior had not been swinging at hittable pitches early in counts recently, he said.
That trend ended in the bottom of the fifth inning of a 2-2 DuKane Conference ballgame.
With two outs and the potential go-ahead run at second base in the form of courtesy runner Ethan Carls after a Drew Parrine leadoff double, Conn pulled a line-drive double down the right-field line against Tigers starting pitcher Brad Novak to put the Saints ahead.
"It was a fastball he left up," Conn said of the 0-1 offering. "I was just looking for one over the plate to drive. Coach (Len) Asquini and I talked about looking middle in and then jumping on the first good one because I've been struggling with that a little bit."
St. Charles East (8-3-1, 3-1) added 2 more fifth-inning runs when Thomas Schroeder doubled to right center and Kyle Hayes singled to center field.
That spelled the end for Novak. The right-hander allowed 5 runs (4 earned) on 6 hits and a walk and struck out 3 in 4⅔ innings.
"Brad kept us in the game," Tigers coach John Scherrman said. "We were just a big hit or two short. We'd get a little something going but we just couldn't get the big hit. Credit to them. They got the big hits when they needed them. They came through in key situations."
The Saints' fifth-inning rally made a winner of starting pitcher Nick Manthei (3-1). The 6-foot-2, 160-pound senior right-hander held Wheaton Warrenville South (8-3-1, 2-2) to 3 hits and a walk in a 69-pitch, 6-inning performance.
"I was just attacking them early, keeping my pitch count low and working my off speeds late in the counts," Manthei said.
The St. Charles East defense cost their pitcher 2 unearned runs due to errors in the fifth and sixth innings. The defense also saved Manthei at least two runs. Left fielder Gino Cerrone ran down a second-inning line drive off the bat of Ryan Obrist to save a double.
The defensive play of the game came in the third inning, when Matt Brennan roped a Manthei pitch to the left-center field gap with a runner on first base. Saints center fielder Ben Testo threw the ball in to Schroeder at shortstop. From the outfield lip, Schroeder fired a one-hop strike to catcher Cole Conn to nail the runner at the plate and preserve what was a 2-0 lead.
"It's tough when they make a perfect relay like that," Brennan said. "I mean, we're going to send that guy nine times out of 10 and try to win a ballgame."
Alec Rupp, normally a starting pitcher, threw a 1-2-3 seventh inning with 2 strikeouts to earn his first save.
The teams are scheduled to play Game 2 of the 3-game series in Wheaton Wednesday.