Baseball: Stempowski's walk-off double beats St. Charles East

Moments after Geneva's postgame huddle broke, Blake Stempowski gave a firm handshake and bro-hug to Daniel Strohm.

Stempowski, on his mom's birthday, came through with a walk-off two-run double to defeat St. Charles East 2-1 on Monday.

Strohm's spectacular pitching made it possible. Strohm struck out 12 Saints in 6 1/3 innings and surrendered just one run - a solo shot from Seth Winkler in the fourth inning.

"He didn't really have to make us do much [defensively]," Stempowski said of Strohm. "He was just strike, strike, striking people out left and right. It really made me keep the energy going. When we don't have that, we get down a little bit but he was there for us just striking people out."

Stempowski, to his credit, finished the job to hand the Saints (14-2-1, 11-1) their first loss since March 31 and first DuKane Conference loss. It broke a streak of 13 consecutive wins.

"When Strohm is in the zone, he's super effective," Geneva coach Brad Wendell said. "He really dialed it in today and I'm super happy for him and happy he could perform on this stage against a really, really good East team.

"Blake is super steady all the time. We know he [can string] good at-bats together. It's just a matter of time before he gets his and he got one today, so it was awesome to see. You've got to give Hayes credit. That kid is good. Very good."

After Saints starter Nathan Hayes (five hits, seven strikeouts and two walks) was pulled after six shutout innings, reliever Keegan Tracey surrendered two singles to Elliott Schmid and Jackson Dibble. Nate Stempowski walked, allowing Blake Stempowski to knock a liner into left field for the walk-off hit and Vikings (11-7, 8-4) win.

"I was just looking for mostly fastball in the zone," Stempowski said. "Anything in the zone, just hit [left] side just to get a base hit. Bases loaded, [you] just need a base hit for the win."

The Saints won the previous two games in the series with a 23-4 run disparity, but couldn't quite find enough offense in the moments that gave them the best chance to push across more.

In the top half of the seventh, James Brennan reached on an error for the Saints. Brett Webbe popped out to Vikings catcher Owen Anderson, who made an athletic and difficult catch in foul territory for the first out. With Eddie Herrera at the plate, Strohm's pickoff throw to first base trickled into foul territory, which allowed pinch-runner Dominick LeBlanc to motor all the way to third base.

Herrera struck out and Ryan Huskey came in relief. Huskey walked Ian Paprocki to put runners at the corners, but got Clay Jensen to pop out to end the threat.

"[Hayes] was very good today again," East coach Len Asquini said. "He's done that a lot this year. Actually, every outing, he's been that good. He's the real deal. He threw super well and [Strohm] threw very well, too. We had a tough time handling him. So, you've got to [tip your cap to him]."

"We had a chance to manufacture something [offensively] and we didn't execute," Asquini said. "So, a little bit of poor execution on our part. Maybe could've got a second or third [run] in."

Winkler, who hit the solo home run, has had a "super solid season for him."

"At short, on the mound, at the plate," Asquini said. "He's done exactly what we've asked him to do. He's playing well and we just didn't have a good offense today."