Geneva denies Sreamwood outright title

Updated: May 19, 2011 9:20PM

So what if the Geneva baseball team didn’t win the Upstate Eight Conference River Division title this year. The Vikings hit the 20-win mark after beating Streamwood, 9-8, Thursday.

Geneva coach Matt Hahn took over the program seven seasons ago. The Vikings won 20-plus in six of those years. Prior to Hahn, the program only had four total 20-win seasons.

“It’s the kids,” Hahn said. “I’ve just been fortunate enough to be here for that. Tip of the cap to all the kids I’ve had (play for Geneva).”

No big deal to Streamwood it didn’t win the conference’s River Division title outright, thanks to the loss. Instead, it has to share it with St. Charles East, which beat St. Charles North, 3-0. This is the first time in program history a conference title was won by the Sabres.

“We came into today with nothing to lose,” Streamwood coach Steve Diversey said. “One of two things could happen — we win today and we win it outright or we lose and are guaranteed a tie. Either way, you are still a champ. Nothing to worry about. First time in history, and that’s fine with me.”

“Today wasn’t about ruining it for Streamwood or allowing someone else to win it,” Hahn said. “I like all the coaches in the conference, I respect them all. Today was fun. It was like a playoff game.”

Geneva (20-10, 16-8) won the game on a Streamwood error. The Vikings entered the bottom of the seventh trailing, 8-7. With one out, Chris Hipchen singled. With two outs, Andy Francis hit an RBI double that allowed Hipchen to score the tying run. Francis scored the winning run when Brad Bernhard’s hit was overthrown to first.

“I was just trying to put the ball in play,” Francis said. “I was hoping my teammates would pick me up after that. We put the ball in play, and that’s what you have to do against a team like this.”

Geneva led 7-6 after five innings, but Streamwood (26-6, 19-6) took the lead after Josh Harris led off with a solo home run. Another run was added when the next batter, Bobby Post, drew a walk and eventually scored on a ground out RBI by Pat Manning.

After the Vikings scored first in the first inning on an RBI single from Hipchen, the Sabres responded with a five-run, three-hit second inning, led by Nate Pearson’s three-run homer and Richie Gorski’s two-run homer. Geneva tied the game at 5-5 in the bottom of the inning, thanks to a three-run homer from Mitch Endriukaitis and an RBI from Mike Monaghan.

Endriukaitis helped put Geneva ahead 7-5 in the fourth with his RBI double. Matt Williams followed that with an RBI single. Tim Cohen was responsible for Streamwood’s sixth run in the fifth, when he hit an RBI single.

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