The third at-bat was the charm for St. Charles North’s Mason Netcel.

After flying out to deep left field in his first two trips to the plate, Netcel launched a three-run home run to the left-field picnic area as part of a four-run fourth inning during the North Stars’ eventual 11-1, six-inning triumph over crosstown rival St. Charles East (15-7, 7-4) Tuesday night at Northwestern Medicine Field in Geneva.

“I’m trying to stick to my approach, not trying to do too much,” said Netcel.

The senior Indiana State commit felt like he got all of it.

“I knew I hit that one the best out of the three,” he said.

Netcel admitted thinking prior to the game about hitting a home run on the big stage at a minor league stadium.

“The night before and this morning, you’re going to think about that — visualize it,” he said. “But I haven’t done anything like that before, then to celebrate with my guys is one of the best feelings.”

“I can’t remember too many of them (homers) in this big ballpark,” said North Stars coach Todd Genke, whose team has won the first two games of the series.

Junior leadoff man Nick Gnutek went 2 for 3 with an RBI single in the fourth and a three-run triple that rolled all the way to the wall in the fifth — the second of North’s four-run innings.

“It’s amazing,” said Gnutek, who took over the leadoff spot following the series with Geneva. “All of the guys were looking forward to playing on Friday, and we got canceled, and then we got canceled again (yesterday). We were all excited to play.”

Landon Straub, Ben Auer, and Nolan Macholz added RBIs as part of the North Stars’ 13-hit attack.

“We challenged our kids, and, man, we swing the bats,” said Genke, whose team is now 13-8-2 overall, 6-4 in the DuKane Conference. “I thought we ran the bases well, and our bunt game was big.”

Seniors Emerson Miller (3 1/3 IP, one run, five hits, two walks, five strikeouts) and Jacob Jalove (2 2/3 IP, one hit, three strikeouts) combined on the mound for the North Stars.

“I thought Emerson threw the ball well,” said Genke. “He was effectively wild at times.”

Jalove, the recipient of the Kevin White Memorial Scholarship prior to the game, retired 7 of the 9 batters he faced.

“It was a nice night for him to come out and pitch the way he did,” said Genke.

Prior to the game, the teams honored the late Gregg “Papa” Wikierak (former North Stars varsity assistant), former Saints athletic director/baseball coach and North Stars freshman baseball coach Wayne DeMaar, who passed away earlier this year, and the late North Stars standout White.

“It’s always a special night to honor some people who are no longer with us,” said Genke. “To be able to come out and do that tonight on this special night is an awesome experience for all of us.”

Dylan McCabe drove in the Saints’ lone run with an RBI single in the first, while Nathan Moline and Oscar Perez each had doubles.

“The first thing I told the team was, ‘You got beat,’ ” said Saints coach Derek Sutor. “It’s how they handle it that’s going to be extremely telling, because tonight is the start of five straight games.

“We don’t have time to hang our heads. It’s time to turn the page and come back tomorrow.”

https://www.dailyherald.com/20260505/prep-baseball/baseball-netcels-blast-highlights-st-charles-norths-convincing-win-over-st-charles-east/