Baseball: St. Charles East’s Kyle Manske blanks Larkin

St. Charles East’s Kyle Manske made Larkin his latest victim Tuesday.

The senior lefty lowered his already miniscule ERA by tossing a complete-game shutout as the host Saints rolled past the Royals 9-0 to remain atop the Upstate Eight River standings.

Manske (6-0) struck out seven, walked one and scattered two hits. In 44 innings this season he has allowed one earned run, which amounts to a stellar 0.16 ERA.

“When a guy gets on base I’m always thinking about (preserving the shutout) with this year that I’m having,” said Manske, who stranded Larkin runners at third in the fifth and sixth innings.

“But I can’t focus on that. Like I always say, I’ve got to come out and do a job and support my teammates.”

Manske got in on the act on offense when he drove in St. Charles East’s final run of the game with a pinch-hit double into the left-field gap in the bottom of the sixth, but he was thrown out trying to stretch the double into a triple to end the inning.

The Saints provided Manske with all the runs he’d need when they scored six times in the bottom of the second. The big blow in the inning came when Joe Hoscheit ripped a three-run double into the left-field corner.

Troy DeFilippis (3-for-3, two runs) and Jordan Hayes (2-for-3, RBI) helped pace the attack for St. Charles East (18-7, 16-3), which leads St. Charles North by one game in the loss column and Geneva by three games in the UEC River standings. The Saints have a three-game series with the Vikings later this week before wrapping up the regular season with three games against the North Stars next week.

“Obviously we have two really big series coming up, but we weren’t looking past this game,” St. Charles East coach Len Asquini said. “We were taking care of today’s business and I was pleased with the performance.”

Kyle Newquist (2-3) again struggled with his command and took the loss for the Royals. The senior allowed eight earned runs on eight hits, five walks and two hit batters in five innings of work.

Brayden Royse and Nate Young had the only hits on the day for Larkin (8-18, 5-13), which has scored two or fewer runs in 11 of its past 13 games.

“I think we’re pressing,” Larkin coach Matt Esterino said. “The guys want to do the right thing and everyone wants to get a hit, but we’re pressing offensively.

“We’ve just got to take a deep breath. Just like everything else, hitting is contagious. Once we get a breakthrough game where we score a few runs that could change the momentum.”

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