It had been a bit since Joseph Mueller got to swing the bat for Barrington.

In his prior two at-bats before coming to the plate in the bottom of the seventh against St. Charles North, the junior had been given the signal to lay down a sacrifice bunt to move runners over into scoring position.

But coming to the plate with two outs, the bases loaded and a one-run deficit in the Class 4A McHenry baseball sectional final, Mueller was put in a position where he had to swing.

“I was just pretty scared, but when I thought about it, I felt like with the amount of work I put in during the offseason, I deserved to be in that moment,” Mueller said. “I wanted to put the ball in play and see what they could do with it.”

Mueller did just that, popping a hit just over second base that scored both the tying and go-ahead run, helping the Broncos secure a 4-3 victory over the North Stars for their first sectional title since 2009.

The North Stars (25-13-1) were just one strike away from winning their first sectional since 2019 on two separate occasions, including against Mueller, but finished just short of the title.

“Baseball’s just a funny game,” St. Charles North coach Todd Genke said. “We certainly did possibly everything that we could do to win this game, but at the end of the day we couldn’t get it done.

“Credit to Barrington, but this is a gut-wrencher. When you look back at it, we’ll learn from it. But it stings, and it’s going to sting for a while.”

Barrington entered the seventh inning trailing 3-1. With two outs and runners on first and third, Will Steffens beat out the throw to first for an RBI infield single. Trevor Naughten would then draw a walk on a 3-2 pitch before Mueller’s heroics ensued.

“All of this was for our seniors,” Mueller said. “They’ve been complete role models for us. And our assistant coach, Tim Rife, we wanted to do it just as much for him. He’s been with us for a long time, and I personally wanted to give it to him with that hit.”

St. Charles North took an early advantage in the top of the first inning. After loading the bases with three of their first four batters, the North Stars managed to drive home two runs off an error and a fielder’s choice for an early 2-0 advantage.

“That was huge for us,” said junior Nick Gnutek, who kicked off the inning getting on base with a hit by pitch. “That really set the tone for a while. They came out flat and we were really loud, especially after that inning.”

Gnutek would add on an insurance run in the top of the fourth with an RBI single that drove home Ty Gleason to make it 3-0. The junior finished the game with two of the North Stars’ four hits, while also swiping two bags.

“Your leadoff guy had to be your igniter, and he got us going again in this game,” Genke said. “As a junior stepping into the starting lineup, we weren’t really sure what we had with him. He had a hell of a season and he’s just going to continue to grow from these situations.”

After the North Stars’ big first inning, the game would become a pitcher’s duel between senior Ben Auer for the North Stars and Jack Postma for the Broncos. Auer finished the game going 5+ innings, allowing six hits and striking out four, with his lone run given up in the sixth inning.

“Ben threw amazing and was great against a good-hitting team,” Genke said. “Their kid stayed out on the mound and kind of kept us at bay for the final six innings, so credit to him. It was just a very good baseball game, we just should have finished that game.”

Despite the agonizing defeat, Genke said he was proud of the run that his team went on during the season, which included a second-place finish in the DuKane Conference and back-to-back upset victories over South Elgin and Huntley.

“Everybody kept talking about who wasn’t in our dugout this season, but we had a lot of quality dudes there with a lot of talent,” Genke said. “We kept telling our guys ‘Why not us?’ We had the pitching, the defense the bats and a ton of confidence coming over here.

“But it’s hard getting here. You’ve got to win seven games in a row to win a state title facing everybody’s best arms. But man, we had it this game. It’s a shame and I just feel for our kids. That’s a game that neither of us should have lost.”