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North Stars slug way past Streamwood
Updated: May 10, 2011 11:23PM
Victory No. 24 and a new Streamwood program record for wins will have to wait for a different day.
Another comeback wasn’t in the cards for the Sabres on Tuesday as they saw their nine-game win streak come to an end with a 13-7 Upstate Eight Conference River Division loss to St. Charles North.
The North Stars scored a run in every inning but the seventh while avenging last weekend’s doubleheader sweep against Streamwood (23-3, 7-3). The outcome also shakes up the race in the UEC River standings as the Sabres slip a game behind St. Charles East in the loss column while St. Charles North (19-8, 13-5) remains three games back.
Senior John Munyon led the hit parade for the Stars by going 3-for-3 with a home run and two RBI. He also improved his pitching record to 5-0 by gutting out five inning in which he allowed seven earned runs on nine hits while striking out four.
“(Streamwood) hit me up pretty good, but we won and that’s all that matters,” Munyon said. “On a day like this when I didn’t pitch great I feel like can help the team in other ways, which is nice.”
The hottest day of the year and a steady breeze blowing out led to three home runs for each team. Munyon started the barrage with a solo shot in the first, but Streamwood answered with three runs in the bottom of the inning thanks in part to Richie Gorski’s two-run homer.
The 3-1 Sabres lead was short lived as the North Stars sent 13 batters to the plate in the top of the second, scoring seven runs in the process. The surge chased Streamwood starter Blake Hunter (4-2), who gave up eight earned runs in 1 2/3 innings but did strikeout five batters.
The Sabres ended up using five pitchers, but the hits kept coming for the North Stars as they scored two runs in the third and one run in the fourth, fifth and sixth.
“(St. Charles North) is a great team, there’s no knocking it,” Streamwood coach Steve Diversey said. “Our No. 2 (Hunter) came out and didn’t have his stuff. He looked good in the first but the wheels fell off a little bit in the second inning. At that point we just wanted to move forward to see if we could get somebody else in there to stop the bleeding.”
St. Charles North’s Andrew Elliot went 3-for-5 with three RBI and three runs scored and John Brodner went 2-for-5 with four RBI and belted his eighth home run of the season.
Other key contributors for the Stars were Jake Smiley (2-for-5, three RBI), Jake Johansmeier (2-for-5, two stolen bases) and Brandon Drawant (two runs). Jake Bergren also scored two runs and stole two bases after being hit by a pitch three times for St. Charles North, which isn’t ready to cede its status as reigning UEC champion just yet.
“We were disappointed over the weekend series with them and we wanted to come out and show them that we’re still the conference champions at this point,” North coach Todd Genke said. “We needed this one and this is a big win for us. We’re not eliminated by any means and we’re going to keep playing and grinding and hopefully have an opportunity at the end.”
Nate Pearson homered and finished 2-for-4 with two RBI for Streamwood. Brandon Larkin-Guilfoyle added a solo homer for the Sabres and finished 2-for-3. Alex Morrow also chipped in by scoring twice and stealing three bases.
The Sabres will try to break their single-season record of 23 wins when they host East Aurora today, and a key showdown with St. Charles East follows on Friday. St. Charles North also has a three-game series against the Saints next week.
“I told the kids right after the game that if you win every series and sweep the ones you’re supposed to, you’re in the driver’s seat,” Diversey said. “We won this series. While nobody wants to lose like we did today, we battled back and now we’ve got the rubber game against East on Friday.”
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