Baseball: Anthony Estrada, St. Charles North blow past Wheaton Warrenville South

ST. CHARLES – Anthony Estrada certainly lives up to the billing of “workhorse.”

Estrada, a St. Charles North senior pitcher, even seems to relish it.

“He’s a big, strong kid, and he does get stronger as the game goes on,” coach Todd Genke said after the North Stars’ 12-2 victory over Wheaton Warrenville South in five innings Monday. “That’s why we wanted to stretch him out a little today.

“I thought he threw really well. I thought he made some really good pitches.”

Estrada fashions his fastball and changeup, in particular, to keep bats as quiet as possible. The Tigers managed only three hits. Estrada struck out four and walked two in the dominant effort.

“The changeup was good. Thought his breaking ball was solid [and] he was hitting both sides of the plate with his fastball, so when he pitches that way, we’ve got a good chance to beat anybody, so it was nice to see him have a good outing,” Genke said.

After diligent offseason work on his changeup, Estrada is seeing the results.

“It’s probably one of my go-to breaking pitches, for sure,” Estrada said. “I love going to that one. Curve is good as well, but that one is for sure my strikeout pitch.”

The North Stars (6-1-1) opened DuKane Conference play Monday and harassed Tigers starting pitcher Casey Farrell from the get-go, scoring seven runs in the opening inning and chasing him after just one inning.

The Tigers had an error to open the game, and the North Stars capitalized with consecutive RBI singles from Mike Buono and Colin Ryder. After Estrada reached on a hit by pitch, Will Vaske smoked an RBI single for a 3-0 North Stars lead.

Jaden Harmon was hit by a pitch, which brought in a run, and Brad Lins reached on a fielder’s choice to score another run and make it 5-0. Lins stole second, and the throw to second skipped away, allowing Vaske to score. Jackson Spring’s RBI double capped the seven-run inning.

Buono added an RBI single in the second inning, and Vaske reached on a fielder’s choice to score a run in the fourth to make it 9-0.

WW South got on the board with a two-run double in the fifth, but the North Stars responded with three runs in the bottom half to finish the convincing showing.

Spring, who moved from the nine-hole to leadoff hitter this season, is an athletic and reliable piece who gets the North Stars going.

“[I’m] taking on that role, and that guy has got to get on base,” Spring said.

Add in his defense – such as grabbing a pop out to close the third inning while on the run toward foul territory – and Spring is becoming a complete player for the North Stars.

“I think it’s about being ready every pitch. That’s what all our coaches tell us. Anticipating the play before it happens,” Spring said about his defensive gem.

The Tigers had seven errors in the game.

“It’s really the errors. To hand a good team like St. Charles North seven free bases, I mean, you can’t beat anybody like that,” Tigers coach John Scherrman said. “They get the key hits when they need to. They just put pressure on us and [we] handed them too many [free] bases. We were just too sloppy. Against a good pitcher, you cant bury yourself 8-0 after two innings.”