Baseball: Sitzarz, St. Charles East put away Glenbard North
Gavin Sitarz had the equivalent of a stroll in the park Wednesday afternoon in St. Charles.
A crafty southpaw for the St. Charles East baseball team, Sitarz fanned 12 Glenbard North batters - his second consecutive start with a dozen strikeouts - as the Saints had few issues completing a three-game DuKane Conference sweep of the Panthers with the subsequent 12-0 victory.
Thirteen St. Charles East batters came to the plate in the bottom of the fourth inning as the resulting 8-run outburst invoked the slaughter rule when Sitarz retired the Panthers in order moments later.
"I felt like I was able to locate all my pitches," said Sitarz, who was a Shea Gaffney two-out double in the third inning away from an abbreviated no-hitter.
"I had confidence (the defense) would make the plays behind me. I threw it in there and hoped for the best."
Sitarz nearly gave the Saints' defense the day off.
Glenbard North (3-6, 1-5) only put three balls in play other than the Gaffney ringing double to left-center field.
But the Saints' infield had no issues on the routine grounders hit by the Panthers' Gunnar Briggs and Olaf Gwiazdowski; Sitarz denied Michael Bettancourt with a comebacker.
Shivam Patel, meanwhile, certainly deserved a better fate as the Panthers' starter.
The Saints (8-2, 3-2) were gift-wrapped 4 runs in their half of the third as Glenbard North committed 3 errors.
Caleb Hubbard had the first of 4 St. Charles East doubles as the lone hit in the inning.
"Obviously, we'll take advantage of it," Sitarz said.
"I thought he threw pretty well in the first couple of innings," Glenbard North coach Rick Smelko said of Patel. "The three errors in the bottom of the third got the best of him."
Sitarz aggravated the Panthers' issues by striking out the side twice as well as ringing up two other Glenbard North batters in his other three frames.
"He was one of the better pitchers we have seen this season," Smelko said.
St. Charles East eradicated all suspense with the last of its four at-bats.
Six of the Saints' 8 hits came during their 8-run fourth. Jake Zatella, a sophomore, had visions of a grand slam, only to have to be content with a 2-run double when his bases-loaded drive bounded off the base of the left-field wall. Frank Szymanski and Aaron Ceralde scored on the play.
"We want to get out in five (innings)" Zatella said. "This team really works. I almost tripped out of the box - I just had to get to first."
Szymanski later brought the Saints to double digits with another 2-run double.
"I was pretty aware that if I got a hit it was going to seal the deal," Szymanski said of his tweener the other way. "I am always looking right-center."