Baseball: Wheaton North's Sullivan silences St. Charles East

Wheaton North pitcher Mike Sullivan sniffled his way through a postgame interview after an 8-1 win at St. Charles East Wednesday.

The senior left-hander was feverish with a sore throat and runny nose the day before his start, so he slept in and got some extra rest before heading to school late on Tuesday, he said.

Sullivan conceded he was still not 100 percent and did not have his sharpest stuff when he took the mound against the Saints. Nevertheless, he scattered 6 hits and 2 walks and struck out 4 in a DuKane Conference game between teams trending in opposite directions.

It was the second straight win and 12th in 13 tries for Wheaton North (17-8-1, 12-4), which had a 10-game winning streak snapped Monday by Wheaton Warrenville South.

"I think we've got a really special team here," said Sullivan (5-1). "I know last year we couldn't put it together at the end, but this whole group here loves to compete. We had a big streak and I hope we can do it again because I think we can do something big this year."

The loss was the third straight and seventh in eight games for junior-heavy St. Charles East (14-10-1, 9-8). Veteran coach Len Asquini said the effort has been there but not the results.

"It seems like every mistake we make right now is multiplied," Asquini said. "That puts pressure on everybody to play the perfect game, make the perfect pitch or have the perfect at-bats. It's just an awful lot of pressure. We're going to try to release the pressure so we can just play baseball again."

Half the Falcons' 12 hits against four pitchers went for extra bases. Joe Klein hit his fourth home run, a solo shot to right off Saints starting pitcher Conner Dunfee in the third inning, to stake the Falcons to a 2-0 lead.

Andy Nelson belted 2 triples and scored twice, and Patrick Dosen, Ryan Russman and Carson Roberts doubled.

"It's just a beautiful day for baseball and the wind is blowing out to right," said Nelson, who went 3-for-5. "That helped Joe Klein hit that one, which pretty much started things off. That home run was big.

"We were just taking quality at-bats all day long."

The Falcons led 4-1 in the fifth inning when they added 3 runs to take command. Russman's 2-run double to left field was the key hit.

Sullivan did the rest by staying ahead of hitters. He threw first-pitch strikes to 19 of the 30 batters he faced and retired Saints slugger Kyle Hayes on a deep fly to center field to end the game.

"Michael threw real well and was efficient," Wheaton North coach Dan Schoessling said. " He threw strike one a lot."

Dunfee (2-3) allowed 3 runs, 2 earned, on 6 hits and a walk in 3 innings. Nick Schumann drove in the only St. Charles East run with a fourth-inning single.