Prep Baseball Report

Become a Member

More +

No. 11 St. Charles North Walks-Off Against Geneva 2-1

April 9, 2015

By Ryan Quigley
Illinois Scouting Director

ST. CHARLES – In Upstate Eight action, No. 11 St. Charles North's sophomore lefthander Tyler Mettetal went toe-to-toe for seven innings with Geneva senior righthander Bret Reed in a 2-1 walk-off victory for the North Stars.

Tied 1-1 entering the bottom of the seventh, the North Stars had only been able to muster one hit off Reed. Geneva’s crafty senior had only faced two batters over the minimum through six innings, pitching to contact striking out two batters and walking only one.

With one out, junior outfielder Kyle Novotney lined a single to right field, then stole second base to put the winning run in scoring position. The bases were loaded when junior outfielder John LeGare was hit by a pitch and Tyler Mettetal produced an infield single in the six-hole. Tyler’s brother, and St. Charles North shortstop Zach Mettetal stepped to the plate and drove Novotney with a hard hit grounder up the middle at Geneva shortstop Jack Wassel. Wassel fielded the baseball to his left, and was caught in between attempting to turn a double play or throw home, and ended up throwing to first base. Novotney, going on contact, likely would have scored at the plate regardless as the North Stars slipped past Geneva, giving Tyler Mettetal his first victory of the season.

The drama in the bottom half of the seventh was typical of the “baseball gods” based on the results in the top half of the inning. Tyler Mettetal looked to be cruising to a complete game victory until back-to-back infield throwing errors by his brother Zach, resulted in Wassel (2-for-3, double) scoring the tying run. Tyler Mettetal threw all seven innings, allowing four hits, one run (unearned), with three strikeouts and one walk. The efficient southpaw impressed with a fastball up to 87 mph and recorded five putouts on comebackers to the mound.

North Stars coach Todd Genke said, “That’s what baseball should be like. I felt bad for Tyler, but Zach came back…baseball has a funny way of doing that. Tyler pounded the zone and kept them off balance all day and that’s a pretty good lineup. The Mettetal’s are only sophomores and they are amazing competitors.”

Reed was equally impressive on the mound for Geneva, throwing 6.1 innings of three hit baseball, with both runs being unearned. LeGare scored on an infield throwing error in the fifth giving St. Charles North a 1-0 lead. Genke added on Reed’s performance, “Their guy didn’t deserve to lose, his fastball movement kept us off balance all game. We were put through the fire today against a quality team in Geneva.”

Besides being the winning pitcher, Tyler Mettetal led the North Stars offensively going 2-for-3 with two singles. Novotney reached base twice with a single and a hit-by-pitch.

St. Charles North improves to 7-0 on the season (2-0 Upstate 8), while Geneva drops to 1-4 (0-2). The two teams square off today at 4:30 at Geneva for the final game of the three-game set.

Recent Headlines

----PBR 6.23.15 ProCase Slide - 6.23.15ProCaseSlide_final.jpg