By Drake Skleba

 

GENEVA ? St. Charles East took advantage of four St. Charles North errors and defeated the North Stars in round one of the City Series, 7-2, at Elfstrom Stadium. With the win, St. Charles East (22-9; 18-5) moves into a first-place tie with No. 21 Streamwood (25-5; 18-5) in the Upstate 8 Conference-River Division. Streamwood was ambushed in Geneva (19-8; 16-7) by the Vikings 3-1.

 

To say that St. Charles North (22-9; 16-6) was generous would be an understatement. Five of the seven Fighting Saints runs were unearned. Two of their runs were scored on wild pitches.

 

?It was very disturbing to see us make uncharacteristic mistakes in the field and on the base paths tonight,? said St. Charles North head coach Todd Genke.

 

St. Charles East jumped out with a pair of runs against St. Charles North starting

LHP Josh Loynachan (2-3) in the bottom of the first. Judson College-bound 1B Tony Rallo (1-for-4; 2 RBI) drove in the first Fighting Saint run on a ground out.

The second run of the inning scored on a wild pitch.

 

In the second the Saints scored three unearned runs to open up a 5-0 lead.

Junior Jordan Hayes (1-for-2; S-RBI) and Rallo picked up RBIs in the three-run second.

 

In the bottom of the third, the North Stars plated a run on a sac-fly by leadoff man Jake Smiley. The Saints regained their five-run lead on a RBI double by junior C Jacob Sheley (2-for-2, 2B, RBI) in the top of the fifth.

 

?Dan (DiTusa) and Johnny (Hondlik) pitched really well for us tonight,? said Sheley. ?Dan really had command for us the whole game and Johnny has been great for us all year out of the pen. I was really jacked about the big RBI double and I was very proud of the sac bunt.?

 

Red-hot St. Charles North junior SS John Brodner singled home a North Star run in the bottom of the fifth to make it 6-2 Saints after five.

 

In the bottom of the sixth, with one out, University of Minnesota-bound CF Jake Bergren doubled and Brandon Drawant walked. St. Charles East head coach Dave Haskins went to his 6-foot-4 junior closer Johnny Hondlik, who replaced Fighting Saint starting pitcher Dan Ditusa (5-3).  

 

Hondlick fanned a North Star pinch-hitter and retired the final hitter on a pop up to third.

 

Ditusa allowed two runs and three hits in his 5 1/3 innings of work. Ditusa fanned nine North Star hitters in his game-winning performance.

 

?I thought it was really important to get ahead of the hitters. My strikeout pitch was my fastball,? said Ditusa. ?Normally it?s my deuce but today I was really throwing hard.? 

 

The Saints picked up an insurance run in the seventh on another error and wild pitch.

 

Hondlik faced three batters in the bottom of the seventh. With two out, Brodner hit a major league pop-up that fell between the Saint infielders for his second hit. Unfortunately for Brodner, he kept running to second and was gunned down by Rallo on a perfect throw to SS Luke Rojas, who put the tag on Brodner to end the game.

 

Hondlick picked up his fourth save of 2011, which ties the St. Charles East record for saves in a season.

 

Speaking of records, Rallo has set new home run and RBI marks this season. Rallo has hit 13 home runs and with his two RBI, he now has 55 RBI for 2011?and counting. Rallo broke the 12-year home run and RBI single-season records of Jim Caine. Caine led St. Charles High School to the 1999 IHSA AA State Baseball Championship. Caine was drafted by the Minnesota Twins and played a couple of seasons as a Twin farm-hand.

 

?We really started out great, getting the lead early and Dan pitched great for us,? said Rallo. ?I didn?t have a great game tonight but it felt good to pick up the RBI. We want to come out tomorrow against North with timely hitting, good defense and once again pound the strike zone and I think we will be all right.?

 

The two rivals will meet again on the East Side at 4:30 on Wednesday.

 

?Dan threw well for us,? said Haskins. ?He pitched well on both sides of the plate. We played small ball early and I am really proud of our quality at bats early in the game. Jake (Sheley) was huge for us tonight. We want to just get better each game and win this series.?