Baseball: St. Charles North, St. Charles East split doubleheader

Jayden Lobliner’s three-run homer highlights North Stars’ 13-3 Game 1 win, Saints take second 6-3

St. Charles North's Jayden Lobliner (4) reacts as he rounds third base after hitting a homer against St. Charles East during a baseball game at St. Charles East High School on Saturday, May 7, 2022.

ST. CHARLES – Jayden Lobliner’s fist pump as he approached second base in the moments after his towering three-run home run to center field put the capstone on a dominating St. Charles North performance.

Lobliner, a Kansas State recruit and North Stars’ catcher, was one of several bright spots for St. Charles North in a 13-3, six-inning win over DuKane Conference leader St. Charles East in the first game of a doubleheader May 7.

St. Charles East came back to win the second game 6-3.

St. Charles North junior starting pitcher Anthony Estrada allowed only three runs on five hits over 5 1/3 innings, striking out three. He benefited from the North Stars’ 16-hit attack.

“Every outing he’s improved,” Lobliner said of Estrada. “Each and every time he goes out there, he just finds a way to get better. I think we’ve built a lot of trust together and it’s just really kind of springboarded him into having a lot of phenomenal outings.”

Estrada has a fastball, changeup and curve.

“I just love the variety,” Lobliner said. “He has confidence throwing off-speed, fastball in any count. It keeps guys off-balance and really just gets the job done.”

St. Charles North's Anthony Estrada (23) delivers a pitch against St. Charles East during a baseball game at St. Charles East High School on Saturday, May 7, 2022.

Estrada, for his part, “let fielders do their job.”

“I put my faith in fielders and was just trying to throw strikes,” Estrada said. “I struggled a little bit in the first inning [allowing a sacrifice fly to Saints third baseman Jake Zitella]. After that, I got around. I was good and got my momentum going. Like I said, let my fielders do their job and do my job as well.”

“He’s definitely a competitor,” North Stars coach Todd Genke said of Estrada. “We knew coming in that he was going to give us a good chance to win this first game and he had some big swings at the plate, too, so he’s a complete player.

“He was able to throw his breaking ball for a strike, which is key. [St. Charles East is] very aggressive at the plate, so having that ability to throw a breaking ball behind in the count or even ahead in the count is really the key to pitching. … I thought we played very well defensively.”

The North Stars (13-10, 8-6) “came over here with a mission today,” Genke said.

“We’ve been scuffling a little bit, but they’re atop the [DuKane] Conference, so it was a challenge,” Genke said. “I challenged our guys yesterday. We had a really good workout yesterday and we came over here hungry.”

Lobliner’s RBI double that made it 7-2 chased Saints starter Gavin Sitarz (six strikeouts) after 4 2/3 innings. The double capped a three-run inning that included Will Vaske’s bunt for a single that allowed Aidan O’Connell to reach home. Parker Reinke, who had reached on a bunt single of his own, also came home on a late throw from first to make it a two-run play.

St. Charles East's Al Gaca (12) lays the tag for an out against St. Charles North's Christopher Graziano (8) during a baseball game at St. Charles East High School on Saturday, May 7, 2022.

St. Charles East rebounded with Zitella’s RBI double in the fifth, but St. Charles North added five runs in the sixth off Keegan Tracey. Reinke singled in a run, a second scored on Jackson Spring’s sacrifice fly and Lobline slugged a three-run homer for a 13-3 lead.

Following Estrada’s exit, North Stars senior Jason Corrigan struck out Eddie Herrera and Ian Paprocki to close the job in the first game.

St. Charles East (15-3-1, 12-2) committed five errors in the Game 1 loss.

“We just absolutely got outplayed in all phases of the game this first game,” St. Charles East coach Len Asquini said. [St. Charles North] put a nice game together. They took advantage of some of our mistakes and wonderful for them to expose us. It’s our job to bounce back and to eliminate that.

“We gave them a lot of free 90s [walks, steals]. Boy, did we give them a lot of free 90s today to help spark their offense. Then they took advantage of that, too. We couldn’t get a lot of the big outs when we needed.”