Prep Baseball: Fitzpatrick's 3 HRs lead S. Elgin to win

ST. CHARLES -- South Elgin's Kyle Fitzpatrick put on an unbelievable power display and highlighted the Storm's 17-7 five-inning Upstate Eight Conference win over St. Charles East on Thursday.

Fitzpatrick slugged three homers in his first three trips to the plate and drove in six runs in the process.

"I only hit two (homers) before this," Fitzpatrick said. "I don't know really what to say.

"The third time (I came up), I was told not to try (to hit a home run) but to hit the single. I didn't really try (to hit home runs), I just went up there to hit the ball. I'm seeing the ball really well right now."

Fitzpatrick's two-run shot in the first kick-started the Storm's scoring and its three-run first inning.

He and South Elgin (11-9, 11-9) then broke things open in the second, tallying nine runs.

After Drew Buddle plated South Elgin's fourth run of the game with an RBI single, Fitzpatrick followed up his previous effort with a three-run bomb to right to grab a 7-0 lead.

After East's Dan White came on to relieve starter Andy Grunewald (3-3), White surrendered RBI singles to Kyle Kinyon and Jonathon Meuser before the Storm's starting pitcher Josh Myers unloaded for the inning's second three-run homer, putting South Elgin up 12-0.

A little controversy crept into the game after that. After allowing Myers' long ball, White hit Ryan Kellner in the back, prompting the home plate umpire to issue a warning.

With one out in the bottom of the second, Myers (3-2) hit Chris Burgess and was tossed from the contest much to the shock of South Elgin and coach Jim Kating. Pete Scaffidi came on in relief.

In the top of the third, Fitzpatrick once again pounced on East pitching, crushing his third homer of the game to deep left.

"Fitzy's been getting hot the last week and a half, two weeks," Kating said. "He's finally found a nice rhythm up at the plate."

After Buddle singled home his second run of the game in the fourth to make it 14-0, the Saints (12-13, 11-8) finally found some offense.

Mike Hoscheit tripled off the center-field wall to open the fourth for East's first hit of the game. Zack Scott followed that up with a two-run homer to right and RBIs by Tyler Deetjen, Ryan O'Dell and Steve Schenck helped bring East back to within 14-7.

The Storm was able to get its double-digit lead back quickly in the fifth thanks to three hits, an East error and RBIs from Kinyon and Dan Kogut to make it 17-7.

"I'm very happy to see our kids come out and hit and get after some kids and not just for one inning," Kating said. "Being able to sustain something is something we're trying to work on. We're trying to get that self-confidence in what we're trying to do and trying to carry that into the playoffs."

East pitching allowed 18 hits on the day.

"I give (South Elgin) a lot of credit (but) we didn't show up today I have no idea why," said Saints coach Mark Foulkes. "(I told) the guys we're disappointed in their performance. We're trying to prepare for regionals and this was a giant step backwards."

Kellner, Buddle, Fitzpatrick, Kyle Daker, Matt Wright and Myers all had multi-hit games for the Storm.

Myers pitched no-hit ball until he was ejected, striking out two in 1 1/3 innings. Kogut allowed one hit and struck out one in 1 2/3 innings.

Deetjen (2-for-3) was the lone Saint with two hits. Doug Dunton came on in relief to allow no runs in one inning of work.