Baseball: Nick DeMarco slugs two homers, St. Charles North tops Batavia to clinch DuKane Conference title

ST. CHARLES – Winning at least a share of the DuKane Conference is consistently a goal for St. Charles North, but it knows it has a whole lot more ahead to play for.

After reaching the Class 4A state title game in 2019, the 2020 season was canceled due to the pandemic. The North Stars have since re-tooled and appear ready to vie for a repeat visit to state.

“I’m really happy for our seniors, especially after last year not having a season,” North Stars coach Todd Genke said following their 11-2 victory over Batavia on Tuesday. “Being able to, what, we had to run off nine or 10 in a row there to just to get a piece of the Conference.”

The win was the North Stars’ ninth straight.

“I thought we played really well defensively,” Genke said. “I mean, Kevin White made [three] phenomenal plays out there. If we can defend and pitch – I think we’re going to hit – but if we can defend and pitch, we’re going to be pretty solid.”

North Stars senior shortstop Nick DeMarco cranked a pair of two-run home runs while senior pitcher Eric Lee tossed a complete game gem, allowing two hits, two runs (one unearned) and striking out six.

DeMarco, a Notre Dame recruit, reached 10 home runs on the season in his four-RBI day, what Genke believed to be the program record for home runs in a single season.

“He’s locked in and just defensively, he’s making plays that most college guys that struggle to make,” Genke said of DeMarco. “...He’s a special, special player. He’s our [school] Athlete of the Year, he’s just an all-stater; I mean, what else can you say about him?”

“The best part is: he’s a better human off the field than he is on,” Genke continued. “When your best players are great human beings, good things happen.”

With the victory, Lee improved to 5-0 on the season. Including Tuesday, Lee has thrown 38.1 innings and has sparkled with 38 strikeouts to just eight walks. Lee has also only allowed 10 earned runs thus far.

“Eric Lee was phenomenal today,” Genke said. “Everybody talks about DeMarco and [Zach] Kempe on the mound, but Eric Lee has really had a sensational season for us. He just goes out there and competes. He knows his job and he’s doing some things out there that are pretty impressive.”

“It’s good to know my boys got my back,” Lee said. “Especially Kevin with three great [defensive] plays. Knowing that I have that behind me is a great feeling being a pitcher.”

Batavia took a 1-0 lead in the first inning after an error by North Stars third baseman Andrew Jimenez. Bulldogs junior Charlie Saul hit a groundball to Jimenez, whose errant throw skipped away from Ethan Kobylinski. Tyler Klein, who was at first base as a courtesy runner, was able to advance all the way home.

The North Stars (24-3, 18-3) responded with a four-run bottom half of the inning, and extended the lead to 6-1 in the second inning on DeMarco’s first home run that chased Batavia starting pitcher Alex Faron.

The Bulldogs (5-16, 5-15 DuKane Conference) got a run back in the second on an error by North Stars catcher Jayden Lobliner, but the North Stars cruised the rest of the way behind Lee.

Austin McNamara and Blake Sotir pitched in relief for the Bulldogs and helped somewhat limit the damage, combining for eight strikeouts and five earned runs.

“[DeMarco’s] going to do some good things. He’s going to get a chance to probably compete right away,” Batavia coach Alex Beckmann said. “...There’s some good takeaways from today. We’re almost there. [We have] some flashes of a really good team in the making [now and in the future].”