Baseball: St. Charles East rallies, avoids Schaumburg’s upet bid

GLEN ELLYN – There wasn’t the least bit of panic.

Trailing ninth-seeded Schaumburg 3-1 after 3 1/2 innings, top-seeded St. Charles East rallied for four runs in the bottom of the fourth.

The result was a 5-3 win for the Saints in the Class 4A Glenbard West Regional championship game May 27.

St. Charles East (28-4) advanced to the South Elgin Sectional hosted by Judson University and a 4:30 p.m. game Wednesday against York.

The Saxons ended their season with a 16-13 mark.

“When we got down, I knew we had plenty of game left,” said St. Charles East coach Len Asquini, who will retire at the end of the season. “We had great situational hitting in the fourth. We maximized our opportunities.”

In the fourth inning, Seth Winkler, Mike Sharko and Nick Miller all singled to load the bases with nobody out. Miller reached on a perfectly placed bunt. Eddie Herrera lined a double down the left-field line to tie the score at 3-3. Jake Greenspan and Joe Arend both lofted sacrifice flies to give the Saints a two-run cushion.

“We have been working on situational hitting a lot the last two weeks,” Herrera said. “I got a fastball and was patient. I got a barrel on the ball. We want to have a great season for coach.”

Winkler pitched the first three innings for the Saints. He gave up two runs on three hits with six strikeouts and three walks.

Asquini replaced Winkler with Caden Cotteleer in the fourth inning. Cotteleer, who earned the win in relief, struggled in the fourth, giving up three walks and an unearned run. The Saints’ reliever had three strikeouts in the inning.

Cotteleer settled down and pitched two solid innings, allowing only one single with two strikeouts.

“I had a lot of nerves coming into the game,” Cotteleer said. “I knew I had to settle down and stop the bleeding. My two-seamer was really working and tailing out. Eddie [Herrera] and I were on the same page. We had a good pitch sequence.”

James Brennan gave up one single without allowing a run in the seventh to register the save. Brennan struck out Nathan Barnitz to end the game and give the Saints the regional crown.

Along with the unearned run in the fourth, the Saxons scored in the third on a two-run double by Zachary Miller.

“We competed and gave great effort,” Schaumburg coach Nick Kostalek said. “We had our chances. We had runners on base every inning. St. Charles East could make a long run.”

https://www.dailyherald.com/sports/20230527/baseball-big-fourth-inning-sends-st-charles-east-past-schaumburg-for-regional-crown