Baseball: Winkler, St. Charles East storm back from six down, walk-off Geneva for 12th straight win
Seth Winkler could have easily folded the tent Friday after perhaps the worst inning of his career, and a forgettable first three at-bats.
He wasn't going to let it happen.
St. Charles East's senior pitcher remained steadfast to overcome a rough start against Geneva, to give his team a chance.
"I personally was just trying to persevere through it," Winkler said. "It's a game of baseball, things like that are going to happen. It was one pitch at a time, chip away."
It added up to a dramatic finish in what is becoming quite a special season for the Saints. Winkler shook off a five-run second inning to get through five innings on the mound.
And then, he scored the tying run as St. Charles East scored four runs in the bottom of the seventh to walk off Geneva 7-6 for the Saints' 12th straight win.
Winkler singled in Jake Zitella, who reached on an error, to make it 6-5, and scored on a Mike Sharko single to tie it. Two batters later, Eddie Herrera was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, bringing in pinch runner Devin Minarik with the winning run.
Quite a range of emotions in about 90 minutes for Winkler and the Saints (15-1, 10-0), who trailed 6-0 after Geneva's five-run second, highlighted by Nate Stempowski's three-run homer.
"It was a sigh of relief," Winkler said. "Felt good that my team had my back when I'm not at my best. Says a lot about our team."
For Geneva, though, it was an excruciating loss.
The Vikings (11-8, 6-4), coming off a three-game sweep by St. Charles North in which they gave up a combined 33 runs, got a valiant start from Seth Kisner, who pitched into the sixth and left with a 6-2 lead.
But Geneva walked six batters over the last two innings, and committed a costly error in the seventh to open the door for St. Charles East's rally. Seven Saints reached base in the seventh without Geneva recording an out.
"I'm proud of my guys. They played great baseball for six innings against a good team," Geneva coach Brad Wendell said. "We need to learn how to finish. We haven't been here before and we need to figure it out, or else it's going to be a long season. I'm proud of my guys, though."
Tommy Maynard, who went 3 for 4 for Geneva, singled in a run in the first inning. The Vikings then batted around in the second off Winkler, the reigning DuKane Conference Player of the Year.
A number of hits were flares that dropped in, but Kollin Mickelsen had a triple to start things and Stempowski's three-run homer made it 5-0.
Winkler, though, bore down to retire 10 of the last 12 batters he faced. James Brennan's solo homer in the bottom of the second started the Saints' comeback from down six runs.
"I was just trying to keep pounding the zone, keep them on their toes and I just need to relax on the mound," Winkler said. "That was my goal, was to keep us in the game. I didn't have a great day at the plate today, so my whole goal on the mound was to give team my team a chance so we hopefully could come back and walk it off like we did."
Hitless through three at-bats, Winkler made things happen in the seventh with his single, then stole second and third. He struck out seven on the mound.
"It says a lot about his mental toughness and makeup," St. Charles East coach Len Asquini said. "He was able to go ahead and flush it. A couple OK bats, he was pulling off, talked to him about it, popped it into center and scored to tie it."
The Saints scored single runs in the fifth and sixth innings to close within 6-3. Even down three runs, Winkler liked his team's chances with the top of its lineup due.
"With our first five in the lineup, anything can happen," Winkler said. "We've been on a roll, and we have the mentality that we have a target on our back. It was never give up, keep the energy up. I guarantee we'll be looking back at the end of the season going 'Man, that Geneva game was crazy.'"