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ST. CHARLES – St. Charles North senior pitcher Andrew Jimenez received a bit of a challenge from head coach Todd Genke on Friday afternoon.
Jimenez pitched in the North Stars’ home opener victory over Jacobs on Thursday, but Genke wanted to see the 2019 all-DuKane Conference selection pitch with the mentality he had seen several times before.
“I said ‘Hey, your last outing, I didn’t feel like you wanted to be ‘the guy’ out there and I challenged him and said ‘Look, you were an all conference pitcher in 2019, and I want you to take that mentality out there today,” Genke said following the North Stars’ doubleheader sweep of Wheaton Warrenville South on Saturday.
“And, he really did,” Genke continued. “He competed. He didn’t even throw one curve ball. That was all fastballs and changeups. That’s just quality execution and he was ahead in the count, we played good defense behind him and those are the types of things that are going to help us succeed this year.”
The North Stars won the opener comfortably 10-2 and the second 5-0. Jimenez, a Wisconsin-Milwaukee commit, started and threw a complete game seven-inning shutout in Game 2, surrendering just two hits and striking out four.
“I just went out and pitched,” Jimenez said. “I felt really good today. My teammates helped me out a bunch and it was just fun playing today.”
Jimenez, with his college decision wrapped up, is keeping his focus on the season at hand.
“Everybody as a whole has to play hard; everybody has to hustle [and] play as a team,” Jimenez said. “We’re like a family almost. Everybody plays together. We’ve known each other since we were younger. Most of us have played since we were like 10, 11 years old and that’s how we can go the mile.”
The North Stars (4-0) return seven players from 2019′s Class 4A state runner-up team, including Jimenez, and that varsity experience seems to be show in the early stages of this season. Through four games, the North Stars have racked up 37 runs in four games as of Saturday.
“It starts with buy-in,” Genke said about the early success at the plate. “You have to have kids buy into that two-strike approach and some team swings instead of just individual swings. And, then they execute and we’ve been doing that. The kids have just been great, just across the board.”
“Obviously, we have a lot of returning talent but some of our younger guys are really stepping up like Ethan [Kobylinski] and Ryan [Caccia],” Genke continued. “Guys that we weren’t sure what we quite had. When the bottom of the order is producing like it’s doing and then you have our returners at the top, it’s a really good mix...when we can defend and pitch like we did, too, that’s a good recipe for sure.”
In Game 1, the North Stars took a 3-0 lead in the third inning after a pair of run-scoring singles from Marco Torres and Kobylinski. Lucas Bolender also had an RBI double. In the fourth, they tacked on four more runs after an RBI single from Jimenez. Then, with the bases loaded, Bolender was hit by a pitch to bring in Kevin White. Kobylinski then reached on an error, which scored two more.
The Tigers (1-4) got a run back on Rowan Fahey’s RBI double, but the North Stars’ bats were too hot to keep cool for long. The North Stars scored three more runs in the fifth to break the game open. Wheaton South tacked on a run on a sacrifice fly in the seventh to end it 10-2.
North Stars senior pitcher Zach Kempe, a Notre Dame commit, pitched four innings, striking out eight and surrendering just two hits. Kempe also pitched out of an impressive bases loaded jam in the second inning, retiring three straight batters all on strikeouts.
In Game 2, Kobylinski led off with a walk and stole second in the third inning. Caccia socked a hard liner to right field, which was dropped for an error, but scored Kobylinski. In the fourth, Jayden Lobliner knocked in a sacrifice fly, and in the fifth, White hit an RBI single for the 3-0 North Stars lead.
Caccia hit an two-run single in the sixth to round out the scoring.
The Tigers did not return anyone from their 2019 squad, so it’s a bit of a learning curve for them early in the season.
“That’s a [St. Charles North] team that plays good defense. You’re not going to get a lot of opportunities [on the base paths] at times,” Tigers coach John Scherrman said. “...[The North Stars are] so good. I can’t take too much negative from that from a team and individual standpoint. We’re playing tomorrow morning at 9 o’clock and we’re going to battle and give them another ball game.”