St. Charles East rallies past Wheaton-Warrenville South 5-4 on Moline's walk-off squeeze bunt

St. Charles East completed its comeback Thursday night with a small-ball finish, beating Wheaton-Warrenville South 5-4 when Nathan Moline dropped a walk-off squeeze bunt in the bottom of the seventh inning. The bunt skipped past the pitcher and brought home James Feigleson with the winning run, capping a game that began Monday and was resumed after a lightning postponement.

The Fighting Saints had to erase an early deficit after Wheaton-Warrenville South scored three times in the top of the first inning on an RBI double and a throwing error. St. Charles East got one run back in the bottom of the fourth when Feigleson led off with a double, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on a passed ball, trimming the Tigers' lead to 3-1 before multiple lightning strikes halted play Monday.

When the game resumed Thursday, the Tigers pushed the margin back to 4-1 with an RBI double in the top of the fifth. The Saints answered in the bottom half. Andrew Evans opened the inning with a single, moved up on Antonio Perez's groundout and a passed ball, then scored on Dylan McCabe's sacrifice fly to center. Feigleson followed with another double, driving in Kyle LaRose and cutting the deficit to 4-3.

McCabe set the tone on the mound in the resumed portion, working a gritty three innings and allowing two hits and one earned run. He walked two and struck out four to keep the Saints within striking distance. Moline also gave St. Charles East four innings earlier in the game, allowing three hits and two earned runs with two walks and two strikeouts.

At the plate, Feigleson and Evans led the offense. Feigleson finished 3-for-3 with two doubles, two runs scored, one RBI and a walk. Evans also went 3-for-3 and scored once. McCabe added a 2-for-3 day with an RBI, and Gavin Fuscone delivered the biggest extra-base hit of the seventh, a double that scored courtesy runner Tyler Phillips and moved Feigleson to third.

That set the stage for Moline's final at-bat. After the Saints strung together three key hits in the seventh, Moline got the bunt down and Feigleson raced home with the tying run turning into the winner, sealing the comeback and the conference series win for St. Charles East.