By Sean Duncan

 

ST. CHARLES – No. 4 St. Charles North won neighborhood bragging rights – and the Upstate 8 Conference championship, for that matter – during the regular season.

 

But on Wednesday, St. Charles East returned the favor and then some, as the Saints ended their rival’s season in emphatic fashion with a 12-3 thumping before a packed crowd at the Class 4A St. Charles East Sectional semifinal.

 

St. Charles East (27-11) pounded out 16 hits against four St. Charles North pitchers, scoring at least one run in all but the seventh inning. The Saints now advance to Saturday’s sectional final against the winner of Thursday’s Wheaton North-Lake Park game, while St. Charles North, which had won two of three against East in the regular season, finished its fine season at 34-5.

 

“It’s always nice beating our rival in a big game like this,” said East third baseman Ryan O’Dell, who went 4-for-4 with two RBI, three runs and a double. “Today our guys were locked in from the get-go.”

 

Senior left fielder Ryan Sotern finished 3-for-4 with four RBI and two stolen bases, and second baseman Johnny Erickson reached base four times, scored three runs and had two hits for the Saints, who scored four runs in the sixth behind six consecutive hits. In all, eight of East’s nine starters had a hit, and five players enjoyed multi-hit games.

 

“I liked our hitting approach all game,” said East coach Dave Haskins. “We let the ball travel deep in the zone and drove it the other way. … One through nine did a great job.”

 

The offense was more than enough for junior left-hander Wes Benjamin, who improved to 13-2 after allowing five hits, one earned run and striking out two with four walks in five innings work. Senior right-hander Robert Wendt pitched the final two innings to seal the victory.

 

“I didn’t feel like I had my best stuff today,” said Benjamin, who earlier in the season had suffered a 3-2 loss to North. “Toward the end, the tank ran a little dry. … I couldn’t ask for a better time for the offense to put a bunch of runs on the board. This was a great win for us.”

 

East mounted a quick 2-0 lead in the top of the first behind an RBI single by O’Dell and an RBI groundout by junior shortstop Luke Rojas. In the bottom half of the inning, East committed three errors in the field and North tallied two hits before the first out was recorded. Trouble was brewing, or so it seemed. But Benjamin got out of the jam with only one unearned run.

 

“I thought that first inning was huge,” said North coach Todd Genke. “We needed to score more than one run. I don’t know how we didn’t score more than one run.”

 

While North squandered scoring opportunities, East kept tacking on runs, taking an 8-2 lead into the sixth. That’s when the Saints strung together six consecutive hits, and took a 12-2 advantage on Sotern’s squeeze bunt that went for a single.

 

North scored a run on two walks and two hit batsmen in the bottom of the sixth to prevent a mercy-ruling, but Wendt retired the side in order in the seventh to send the Saints to the sectional final.

 

Senior third baseman Kevin Borst led North with two hits, including a solo homer in the fourth inning, and junior centerfielder Jake Bergren went 2-for-3.