Summer baseball: St. Charles East goes small to advance past Glenbard West
Effective use of small ball can be the difference in a baseball game.
St. Charles East proved that in Tuesday’s 9-1 win over Glenbard West in the quarterfinals of the Phil Lawler Summer Classic at North Central College in Naperville.
The Saints will take on New Trier at 4 p.m. Wednesday in the semifinals. New Trier topped Lincoln-Way West 8-2 to advance.
Junior Antonio Perez laid down a bunt for a base hit following a walk and a single to start the contest. The 3-run inning that followed was enough to seal the win.
“We’ve got to do our jobs. If a runner’s on base, we’ve got to try to move them. Do our best to keep the runners moving,” Perez said.
St. Charles East coach Derek Sutor praised his players for their consistent unselfish attitude.
“Our guys aren’t afraid to create runs,” Sutor said. “Our guys play unselfish baseball. They’ve truly bought into the team concept. Different guys step up different days. They don’t care who it is.”
Nathan Beers, the St. Charles East starting pitcher, appeared to be in control from the jump. The southpaw mixed his fastball with a curveball, keeping the Hilltoppers off balance through 4⅔ innings of 1-run ball. Beers displayed excellent command throughout the outing, allowing just two walks.
“At the start I try to get strikes, and if they start to get contact off me, then I’ll just work off the zone and see what happens, try to build off that,” Beers said.
Glenbard West got on the scoreboard in the fourth inning after senior Drew Gacek singled and scored on Max Bakken’s RBI single.
Nick Pleasant started the game on the mound for the Hilltoppers, and after a shaky first inning, the senior settled. Pleasant used his breaking ball to keep the Saints off balance and tallied four strikeouts.
Saints pitcher Matt Steinberg’s entrance halted any Glenbard West momentum. The junior used a sharp fastball to mow down hitters and struck out four Hilltoppers in a row.
The Saints put the game away in the fourth with a combination of small ball and timely hits.
“It’s going to be a pretty new team out there next spring,” said Hilltoppers coach Andy Schultz. “So just giving kids opportunities to see what they do well, how we can coach them, how we can teach them. The summer is really important as far as that goes.”
Downers Grove South and Hersey battle in the last quarterfinal at 10 a.m. Wednesday, which was postponed from Tuesday due to rain. Lake Park takes on the winner in the first semifinal at 1 p.m., with the championship starting at 7 p.m.