Rojas delivers in clutch for Saints

Updated: March 29, 2011 11:38AM

Trailing by a run going into the bottom of the seventh inning wasn't much of a problem for St. Charles East on Monday.

First came a pinch-hit single from Matt Harris to lead off the inning followed by a bunt single by Ryan Shaffrey. Senior shortstop Luke Rojas then came to the plate two batters later and drilled the first pitch he saw into the right-field gap for a two-run double, and just like that the Saints had a 5-4 non-conference win against Dundee-Crown.

East (2-0) was originally slated to host the game, but soft field conditions prompted the contest to be moved to the Chargers' home field. The Saints remained the home team on the scoreboard despite the venue change, and they were happy to take advantage of having the last at-bat.

"Everyone on the team is confident they can come through when needed," Rojas said. "Coach was telling me to look away and I got my pitch and hit it."

East showed off its efficient offensive execution not only in the seventh inning but also the second. Joe Hoscheit led off the second by reaching on an error, Johnny Hondlik followed with a walk and both runners moved up on Nicholas Erickson's sacrifice bunt.

Henri Desrosiers kept the line moving with a two-run single in the next at-bat, and Desrosiers came around to score after stealing second and scoring on Jake Sheley's RBI single that gave the Saints a 3-0 advantage.

"We emphasize that we don't have a lot of big boppers, the wind is often blowing in and we're in a cold state and balls aren't going to carry," East coach Dave Haskins said. "So we do little things like the push bunt to move things over and put pressure on the defense."

Kansas-bound ace Wes Benjamin got the start for East and was sharp before exiting with one out in the fourth after reaching his pitch count. The lefty struck out seven, allowed two hits and was responsible for a pair of unearned runs.

D-C's offense came to life after Benjamin's exit in the fourth as No. 8 hitter Cory Volberding connected for a two-run single and No. 9 hitter Eric Brewer followed with an RBI single off reliever Mike Upton to tie the score at 3.

Volberding and Brewer were at it again in the sixth against East pitcher Dan Ditusa. With two outs Volberding singled and went to second on an error. Brewer followed with an RBI single to put the Chargers ahead 4-3.

D-C couldn't make the lead hold up, though, as Mike Lodi (0-1) picked up the loss after tossing three innings of relief.

"I was happy with the way we fought back, but I wasn't happy with our approach the first couple innings," D-C coach Jon Sawyer said. "Once we made some adjustments offensively I thought we did a good job. It was a good baseball game."

Scott Nowicke went 2-for-4 at the plate for the Chargers to join Volberding and Brewer as the only players with multi-hit games.

Ditusa (2-0) picked up the pitching win for the Saints after allowing one run on three hits in 3-1/3 innings.

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