Baseball: St Charles East blanks Elgin

Updated: April 18, 2012 8:48PM

An Elgin team that has had trouble scoring runs all season had trouble just getting hits Wednesday off St. Charles East left-handed pitcher Kyle Manske.

The Saints senior went 4-0 on the year by throwing a two-hit shutout over six innings in his team’s 9-0 Upstate Eight River road victory over Elgin, which has failed to score in four straight games.

“I felt I was in control all game, but giving up four walks is not typical of me,” said Manske, who has not allowed an earned run yet this season. “I was kind of having issues with the ball. I couldn’t get a new one and the ones I had were either too heavy or it was dirty.

“It was getting a little frustrating but I can’t complain.”

Elgin (4-13, 0-10) lost for the 10th straight time and managed only singles by Ryan Sitter and Alex Buttell just one game after being three-hit by the Saints’ Nick Huskisson.

Manske had a season-high 10 strikeouts and dealt Elgin its fourth straight shutout defeat.

“I think it wears on them a little bit with the at-bats,” Elgin coach Dave Foerster said. “Manske was tough today, but we didn’t have too many positive at-bats against him with our approach.

“Overall, with not scoring runs, in the back of their minds right now we’re giving up four or five and they might be thinking ‘do we have what it takes to come back?’ That’s kind of what we’re fighting and we (coaches) need to get them to believe in themselves a little bit more.”

The Saints (9-5, 7-2) had all the runs they needed after one batter. Leadoff man Nicholas Erickson doubled to center, moved up on a passed ball and scored on a wild pitch. Huskisson’s RBI double added another run that inning.

Erickson continued ripping the ball, going 3-for-3 with a double and run scored in the three-run third and an RBI single in the fourth.

“He’s done this all year,” Saints coach Len Asquini said of Erickson. “He doesn’t slow down. He sets the table for us and we have the guys who are doing a nice job of getting him around and pushing him home.”

The Saints in the fourth chased losing pitcher Eric Daley (0-4), who gave up eight hits and six runs. They got a three-run double by Troy DeFilippis in the fifth off reliever Eric Sedlack.

DeFilippis went 2-for-4 and Huskisson 2-for-3.

The Saints, who host Elgin today in the series finale, played an error-free game for their seventh win in eight games.

“I would say that the stability of the defense has helped us a lot,” Asquini said. “We’ve pitched well for the most part this year but I would say it goes back to the stability of our defense as why we’re winning now.

“We’re picking it up and throwing it across the diamond and not giving offenses an opportunity to score.”

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