Baseball: St. Charles North completes sweep of St. Charles East with 4-3 win on Kevin White Day

GENEVA – Some things are just bigger than baseball. The finale of the crosstown series between St. Charles North and St. Charles East was no exception.

On a day when it honored the lives of Kevin White and Gregg Wikierak, St. Charles North secured a three-game sweep over St. Charles East with a 4-3 victory at Northwestern Medicine Field.

Before the game, the North Stars honored White and Wikierak. White, who played on the varsity team and graduated from North in 2022, was killed in a car crash Aug. 16, 2022. Wikierak, who was an assistant coach for North for five seasons, died Nov. 29, 2023. The North Stars all wore No. 20 on their warmup jerseys, White’s number during his time with St. Charles North.

St. Charles North coach Todd Genke said getting the chance to honor the legacy of both White and Wikierak was important for the program and he couldn’t thank St. Charles East enough for allowing the North Stars to celebrate both of their lives.

“Today was about honoring their legacy and honoring the things that they did for this program,” Genke said. “Baseball is just a game. We’ve learned some tough life lessons with losing those two incredible human beings. And their families being here tonight and just being here to celebrate them, it’s just hard to put into words, but it means a lot to me personally.”

After falling behind 3-1 heading into the top of the fifth, Genke told his team he could feel the presence of both White and Wikierak in the dugout and it seemed to put a spark into the North Stars’ bats.

Mike Buono started the scoring in the inning by sending a ball over the head of left fielder Devin Minarik for an RBI double to cut the lead to 3-2. Two batters later, Collin Ryder tied the game at 3-3 with a towering shot to left field for a sacrifice fly that scored Josh Caccia, who was pinch running for Buono.

Jadon Harmon then had the biggest hit for North (17-3-1, 10-1 DuKane Conference). The senior sent a ball to the warning track in dead center field for a go-ahead RBI triple that scored Ty Heimbuch.

“I just wanted to find my pitch and drive it,” Harmon said. “To give my team a hand and get us into the lead and win the game, it felt great.”

Heimbuch scored the North Stars’ first run in the third inning on a fielding error.

Genke said White and Wikierak would have been proud of the North Stars’ performance.

“To see a team like that come back on a big stage against an archrival to sweep a team in this very difficult conference is really tough to do and I’m just so proud of this team,” Genke said. “That’s how North Star baseball is meant to be played, as hard as you can.”

St. Charles East (9-7, 7-5) got its first lead in the series in the bottom of the fourth. After the Saints loaded the bases with one out, the North Stars sent Liam Ruane to the mound to relieve starter Jake Kujak. The Saints took advantage of the switch. Mac Paul lined a two-run single to right field to give them the lead. Two batters later, Minarik drew a walk on a full count to score another run and make it 3-1.

“We haven’t had the opportunities to take the lead this series, so we tried to make something happen,” St. Charles East coach Derek Sutor said. “We had to be aggressive and it was fun because that built us some momentum and we just had to close it out.”

But after St. Charles North regained the lead in the top of the fifth, Ruane found a second gear and shut down St. Charles East’s offense. Ruane finished with five strikeouts and allowed only two hits in 3 2/3 innings for the win.

“After we got the lead, I knew that we needed to shut it down,” Ruane said. “I wanted to stop them from hitting, running and just limit everything so that was just the whole mindset. Just stop everything.”

Sutor said he was proud of the efforts of his pitchers, especially starter Joey Arend. The Xavier commit allowed four hits and three earned runs while striking out seven in five innings.

Sutor also said getting swept by St. Charles North was a learning experience for the Saints.

“When you go against a team like that, you’re going to take a punch and battle some ups and downs,” Sutor said. “But you need to find out the things that you need to straighten up before regionals start and it’s better to have these bumps now rather than later.”