Baseball: St. Charles North’s bats come alive in win at Prospect

St. Charles North's Cole Schertz (10) delivers a pitch Tuesday March 28, 2023 in Mt. Prospect.

MT. PROSPECT – No time to hit was not a problem for St. Charles North Tuesday.

The North Stars left early for their nonconference game against Mt. Prospect. But the lack of pregame swings didn’t matter.

St. Charles North banged out a dozen hits and knocked off host Prospect 7-3.

“We talked about hitting before the game,” St. Charles North coach Todd Genke said. “But just the way it worked out, we did not hit. You kind of roll the dice when you don’t do that before a game. I liked our approaches at the plate and we were getting ahead in the count. The guys were ready to hit the ball.”

Anthony Estrada, who went 3-for-5 with an RBI and a run scored, said that not hitting before the game didn’t bother him Tuesday.

“I do like to hit before the game,” Estrada said. “But we kind of knew last night (Monday) that we wouldn’t have an opportunity to do that. So I went and hit on my own that night, I changed my approach a bit today because I struck out twice in our last game.”

St. Charles North (2-1) grabbed a 3-0 lead in the top of the second.

Brad Lins, who had two hits and an RBI, doubled home Estrada, who had singled. Jaden Harmon followed with a sharp, two-strike single up the middle to score both Harmon and Will Vaske, who earlier had been hit by a pitch.

“I was down two strikes,” said Harmony who is a junior. “I went to my two-strike approach and I nailed it.”

Prospect's Jack Friar (11) and Gavin Flanagan (9) pick up a shot by St. Charles North's Jaden Harmon (5) as he rounds first base and heads to second Tuesday March 28, 2023 in Mt. Prospect.

The North Stars added a run in the fourth when Harmon doubled with two outs. He then scored on Jackson Spring’s single to make it 4-0.

Prospect (3-4), which left five runners on base in the game’s first two innings, finally broke through in its half of the fourth, Owen Anderson drove home a run when the St. Charles North outfielder couldn’t locate a fly ball in the sunny skies to make it 4-1.

St. Charles North then added a pair of runs in the fifth. Back-to-back doubles by Mike Bouno and Colin Ryder accounted for one run and Ryder would then score on a wild pitch.

Prospect added another run without a hit as Drew Terpins, who had walked, scored on a ground out to make it 6-2.

Prospect had an opportunity to get back in the game in the sixth.

The Knights pushed across a run as Nate Tader doubled home Matt Szyska, who had singled. After a walk, Prospect had two runners on, but St. Charles North got a fly out to end the threat.

“We have been struggling offensively,” Prospect coach Ross Giusti said. “We just have to have a better approach. We are giving at-bats away and that is discouraging. Especially with two outs.”

St. Charles North added its final run as Estrada drove in pinch runner Brandon Warner.

“We are just trying to give kids opportunities early in the year,” Genke said. “The kids came off the bus ready to play today.”