Glenbard West pulls upset on Saints

Updated: June 2, 2011 9:22PM

With the bases loaded in the second inning of Thursday’s St. Charles North Class 4A Sectional semifinal, the No. 2 seed St. Charles East baseball team had a huge opportunity to open up the game for ace Wes Benjamin.

However, Glenbard West pitcher Ben Krusen got out of the one-out jam by striking out the side on the way to a 5-1 upset of the Saints.

In a 3-0 deficit in the fifth inning and the bases loaded with no outs, the Saints 3-4-5 hitters all struck out against Krusen.

The No. 14 Hilltoppers scored all their runs during their two respective bases-loaded chances, leading Glenbard West (19-18) to another surprising victory and a spot in Saturday’s sectional final against No. 1 Lyons (33-4).

“This team has worked so hard to get better,” Hilltoppers coach Brian Wotjun said. “As a coach, you just can’t be happier to see kids get something for their hard work, especially against some of the competition we’ve played this year. That’s what our conference prepares us for and we’ve seen a bunch of it this year.”

Krusen (9-1) outdueled Benjamin (10-2) but not without the help of an “out” pitch. The only run allowed by the right-handed senior was unearned, while giving up just three hits over seven innings and finding his way out of a couple potentially harmful situations.

“It was definitely tense,” Krusen said. “I’ve been in situations like that before. I just tried to keep cool and throw strikes, not overthrow. My changeup was working pretty well and my fastball was all right. My slider and changeup were definitely the best pitches I threw today. My change has been my go-to pitch all year.”

The Saints (27-11) felt good entering the game with Kansas-bound lefty Benjamin on the mound and an offense sporting cleanup hitter Tony Rallo.

But Benjamin found himself in trouble in the top of the third.

Krusen hit a two-out RBI single to right for the game’s first run and then Tommy Alt followed with a two-run single to center and a 3-0 Glenbard West lead.

At the same time, the bats were quiet for St. Charles East.

“Normally, that doesn’t bother us,” Rallo said about the early deficit. “Normally, we’ll bounce back and come right back at it, but today their pitcher shut us down a little bit.”

Jordan Hayes, Luke Rojas and Johnny Hondlik were all hitless.

Rallo, a Judson University recruit that entered with a .488 average and 13 home runs, went 0-for-4 and the approach at the plate by the Saints’ lineup seemed to change as Krusen got hot and St. Charles East fell behind on the scoreboard.

“We just got beat away,” Saints coach Dave Haskins said. “That was very surprising. We’re usually pretty good at that. Today, we just got beat away. We struggled today offensively.”

Henri Desrosiers had two singles and Joe Hoscheit a double for the Saints only offense.

Brian Sobieski scored East’s only run after reaching second on a fly ball error by Glenbard West to lead off the bottom of the sixth. Matt Harris pushed him home on an RBI groundout.

That cut the lead to 3-1 with the 2-3-4 hitters scheduled to appear for the Saints in the bottom of the seventh.

The Hilltoppers made that a moot point by scoring two in the top of the seventh.

Myles Purdom drove in a run with an infield single between a drawn-in Saints’ defense in a bases-loaded, one-out scenario. Krusen followed the second out with an RBI walk and much-needed insurance runs.

“That was tough. We needed to hold it right there,” Haskins said. “Obviously, then if we get the leadoff guy on, tying run is at the plate. We’d have been in good shape. That’s tough emotionally to bounce back from. The big one was bases loaded, no outs and we don’t score. That’s a big emotional swing.”

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