Joyce, Lambert lead St. Charles North baseball past Geneva

ST. CHARLES – Both the Geneva and St. Charles North baseball teams did things on April 26 that were uncharacteristic of what has brought the programs success this season.

Fortunately for the North Stars, they were able to overcome those mistakes.

A four-run sixth inning broke a tie and North held off the Vikings, 5-1, in the Upstate Eight Conference River Division series opener.

"In a game like this against a quality opponent, you have to take advantage of your opportunities," North coach Todd Genke said. "Our guys stayed with it, and it ended up being a huge win for us coming into a series against a quality team."

Both teams saw each pitcher duel through the first three innings. North's Jack Lambert, who improved to 7-0, faced Geneva's Noah Davison.

After a pinch-hit single by North's Brendan Norberg opened the scoring the bottom of the fourth inning – a hit that saw Geneva center fielder Jeremy Davis throw out a second runner trying to score at home plate – the Vikings tied the game on a two-strike, two-out RBI single by Jack Wassel in the top of the sixth.

That's when the North Stars (15-2, 10-0 UEC River) saw their perfect conference record in jeopardy before their bats woke up to back Lambert.

After Blake Saltsman walked with one out in the bottom half of the sixth, pinch-runner Luke Corcoran advanced to second on a wild pitch, which brought Geneva coach Matt Hahn to the mound to talk with Davison with North third baseman Sam Faith at the plate.

Faith ripped a single into the gap that scored Corcoran and gave North a lead it wouldn't relinquish.

"This is the kind of game you're going to get," Hahn said. "A team with one loss in the conference against no losses in conference. Good teams make you pay for your mistakes and with a guy like (Lambert) throwing as well as he was, you can't make mistakes. We'll bounce back and be ready to go tomorrow."

Geneva (14-5, 8-2) committed three errors, one of which led to the game's opening run, but a big turning point in the game came two batters after Faith's run-scoring base hit.

With the infield drawn in, No. 9 hitter Eric Rabin had runners on second and third and one out. Rabin hit a ground ball to Geneva second baseman Justin Hasegawa, who checked on Jake Chantos at third. Hasegawa thought he could throw behind Chantos, but the throw was late and Rabin reached first.

The lineup rolled over to the top and Brendan Joyce made Geneva pay. A single down the third base line, past a diving Wassel, scored two runs and gave the North Stars a comfortable lead.

"(Brendan) is the catalyst," Genke said. "He's the guy. When he gets on base, we win. It was a great to see him come up with a big hit in that spot."

Joyce's base hit made up for two baserunning mistakes that saw him picked off by Davison in the first inning and thrown behind at second by Geneva catcher Josh Rose.

Christian Sidoti came in to finish off the game, securing Lambert's six-inning, six-strikeout effort. With a series this important, Lambert knew he needed to have his best stuff. Although it wasn't a perfect outing, he gave his team a chance to win.

"They're a real good team," Lambert said of the Vikings. "Getting ahead was big for me today. We knew they were going to come out strong today and we had some high expectations for this one, so it was big for us to come away with a victory."

Genke can only imagine what kind of top of the rotation he could have had last season had Lambert, a left-hander, not had elbow issues and missed most of 2015.

But the focus is on the present for the North Stars. With a current 13-game winning streak and an unbeaten mark in Illinois this season, they showed exactly why they remain the team to beat in the UEC River.

The series resumes April 27 as the Vikings look to even the series with ace Bryan Callaly on the mound. Genke said he’s still deciding between starting pitchers.