Geneva ousts North Stars

Updated: July 20, 2011 10:48PM

The Geneva baseball team is in new territory this summer.

For the first time in program history, the No. 4 seeded Vikings are in the summer regional final after beating No. 1 St. Charles North 5-4 Wednesday in the second semifinal at St. Charles East.

“We’ve never gotten past this game,” said Geneva coach Matt Hahn, whose Vikings were in the semifinal last in 2008. “It feels really good. No one remembers records unless you win (the title game). The thing that really matters is the momentum that is carried over in the spring. Of course, we’d rather keep playing than collect uniforms, but it was fun today. St. Charles North is a very good team. That’s the best team we’ve seen all summer.”

The win allowed Geneva (19-9-2) to advance to the title game at 1 p.m. Thursday against No. 2 Harlem (17-1). The Huskies advanced after beating No. 3 Batavia 8-5 in the first game of the day.

Geneva led 4-0 after five innings, thanks in part to starting pitcher Drew White. He only gave up one hit — a single from St. Charles North’s Nick Gilmore in the second — before Matt Williams relieved him in the sixth inning.

“(Drew has) been doing that all summer and in the second half of the spring,” Hahn said. We’ll count on him for big innings next spring.”

“It was hot, but I felt great out there,” added White, who also recorded two walks and a strikeout. “My fastball and changeup were working for me, and the defense helped me out a lot.”

The offense was working for the Vikings too — they scored a run in the first on a St. Charles North error and scored again in the third on an RBI single from Andy Francis. Geneva scored twice in the sixth when pinch-runner Jeremy Hanson and Jake Weede both scored on a Jordan Touro sacrifice bunt that North made an error on.

“The errors we made today, we haven’t done that all summer,” St. Charles North coach Todd Genke said. “Those plays need to be made in tight games like this.”

The North Stars’ luck, however, began to change in the bottom of the sixth, when they scored three runs on one hit — an RBI single from John Brodner. A pair of RBI walks drawn from Ryan Thomas and Adam Delisi produced the other runs.

St. Charles North tallied its final run in the seventh when Jake Johansmeier’s RBI single with two outs sent Kurt Barbeau home after he led off with a walk. The tying and winning runs were left on base.

“As poorly as we played, we still had a chance to win,” Genke said.

St. Charles North concluded the summer season 22-3, something Genke is OK with.

“There’s not a lot to hang your head about,” Genke said. “We did a lot of good things this summer. I’m pretty happy with it.”

Harlem 8, Batavia 5: According to Batavia baseball coach Matt Holm, the Bulldogs haven’t had a 20-plus win summer season for “years and years and years.”

The No. 3 seeded Bulldogs have come close in recent years, but it never happened — until this summer. Although their season ended Wednesday against No. 2 Harlem after the Huskies’ 8-5 win in the St. Charles East regional semifinal, Holm still summed up the 21-8 season as a great one.

“For past several years, we’ve been pushing 20, but came up short,” Holm said. “It was one of the guys’ goals to get to 20 wins. It’s a nice summer record.”

Batavia newcomer and leadoff man Laren Eustice, a sophomore, thought so too.

“It’s a good outlook on next season and what’s to come,” Eustice said. “It’s been a lot of fun. I learned a lot about how varsity works and how they play.”

With the win, the Huskies (17-1) will take on No. 4 Geneva, which topped No. 1 St. Charles North 5-4 in the second game of the day. Harlem’s lone loss of the year came in the second game of the season against fellow NIC-10 league rival Hononegah.

“We’ve been down in this area three times now and never made it to the title game, so hopefully we can do something,” said Harlem coach Doug Livingston, whose team posted a 5-0 win Tuesday against Kaneland, the reigning Class 3A champions. “The kids are getting along well and having a lot of fun this summer. It’s been a good time.”

Harlem scored twice in the first and didn’t score again until the fifth, when the Huskies tied the game at 3-3. Batavia scored once in the second, thanks to an RBI single from Steve Durham. The Bulldogs tied the game at 2-2 in the fifth when Eustace’s one-out RBI single allowed Billy Zwick to score after he led off with a walk. Eustace eventually got home on a sacrifice fly from Micah Coffey.

Harlem broke the 3-3 knot with a huge sixth inning, when it scored five runs on four hits, including a two-run double from Drake Robison and a two-run home run from No. 9 batter Cody Dietz. Batavia switched pitchers from starter Austin Shanahan to reliever Luke Horton, and the Huskies took advantage.

“The kids got more aggressive out there,” Livingston said. “They were looking for a certain pitch and they got it.”

“Typical end of the season where we ran out of pitching,” Holm said. “Luke has done a nice job all summer long. I didn’t have a lack of confidence in him. He did a nice job early, but we didn’t give him many opportunities.”

Batavia made a nice attempt at a comeback in the seventh with a pair of runs on three hits, including a two-run single from Sam Burnoski.

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