{"id":62503,"date":"2026-05-09T02:19:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-09T02:19:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/62503\/"},"modified":"2026-05-09T02:19:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-09T02:19:14","slug":"baseball-ryan-kastor-powers-geneva-past-glenbard-north","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/62503\/","title":{"rendered":"Baseball: Ryan Kastor powers Geneva past Glenbard North"},"content":{"rendered":"

After a disappointing season last spring, Geneva\u2019s Ryan Kastor<\/a> was hoping to be a part of something special as a senior.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s found himself manning third base every day and hitting in the middle of a relentless, loaded lineup that has provided ample opportunities for him to succeed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really cool compared to last year,\u201d Kastor said. \u201cI really struggled. I feel really good right now and the team has been with me the whole time. They helped me through it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kastor and the host Vikings showed how deep and powerful their lineup is Friday afternoon with a 14-run third inning in a 15-0 DuKane Conference victory over Glenbard North.<\/p>\n

In that third, Kastor recorded a two-run single and an RBI single for Geneva (23-3, 12-2). Nick Torrence<\/a> added a grand slam and a two-run single in the inning, which saw the Vikings send 17 batters to the plate. Mason Bruesch<\/a> scored three runs.<\/p>\n

Noah Hallahan<\/a> (5-1) shut down Glenbard North (10-13-2, 5-9), striking out eight in four innings.<\/p>\n

\"Geneva'sGeneva’s Ryan Kastor (9) celebrates his two-run single against Glenbard North in the third inning of a DuKane Conference game in Geneva on Friday, May 8, 2026. (Mark Black \/ The Beacon-News)<\/p>\n

Geneva coach Brad Wendell<\/a> knew that Kastor\u2019s slow start last season squeezed him out of the lineup. Seeing him bounce back as well as he has this year has been a welcomed sight.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been awesome all year,\u201d Wendell said of Kastor. \u201cWe expected a lot from him. Last year he had kind of a rough start and that held him back all year.<\/p>\n

\u201cOther guys were playing well, so he didn\u2019t see a ton of opportunities. This year, we said, \u2018We think he\u2019s our guy at third base. We think his bat plays.\u2019 And it has.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kastor, who has driven in a team-best 26 runs, has a .417 batting average.<\/p>\n

\"Geneva'sGeneva’s Ryan Kastor (9) reacts after defeating Glenbard North in a DuKane Conference game in Geneva on Friday, May 8, 2026. (Mark Black \/ The Beacon-News)<\/p>\n

That trails only Breusch\u2019s .457 for Geneva. Kastor also has drawn a team-best 17 walks, tying him with Breusch as the Vikings\u2019 on-base percentage leader at .531.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe sees the zone really well,\u201d Wendell said of Kastor. \u201cHe\u2019s just hit everything. I\u2019m super happy for him in terms of how he\u2019s performed. He\u2019s just having a great year. He\u2019s really hard to get out.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe comes up in big situations for us, a lot of RBIs for us out of the four or five hole.\u201d<\/p>\n

When Kastor gets to the plate, unless he\u2019s leading off an inning, there\u2019s a good chance somebody will be on base for him. That shows the depth of Geneva\u2019s lineup.<\/p>\n

\"Geneva'sGeneva’s Ryan Kastor (9) takes a lead off at second base against Glenbard North during a DuKane Conference game in Geneva on Friday, May 8, 2026. (Mark Black \/ The Beacon-News)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really nice,\u201d Kastor said. \u201cIt looks good in the stats. They\u2019re always out there for me.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s nice to have guys on base all the time, and everyone trusts you in those situations to get the job done and get the runs in for the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Friday\u2019s 14-run third is a perfect example. Torrence\u2019s grand slam capped off the inning, but it was the lone extra-base hit. Six singles, five walks, a hit batter and an error caused the other damage.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it just shows that when we work as a team, all one unit, that\u2019s the best we are,\u201d Kastor said. \u201cIt\u2019s never just one guy. It\u2019s all of us together. It\u2019s really cool.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou don\u2019t have to focus on one person getting the job done. We\u2019re all capable of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Geneva'sGeneva’s Ryan Kastor (9) gets ready to make a play at third base against Glenbard North during a DuKane Conference game in Geneva on Friday, May 8, 2026. (Mark Black \/ The Beacon-News)<\/p>\n

That gives Hallahan confidence on the mound.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s great going out there and pitching knowing that if I give up one or two runs, it\u2019s not the end of the world,\u201d Hallahan said. \u201cIt\u2019s great to go back to the dugout knowing I have one through nine.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd all nine of them can do a job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kastor hopes that leads to a special end to what\u2019s already been a special season.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is probably one of the better teams I\u2019ve ever been a part of,\u201d Kastor said. \u201cIt\u2019s cool to provide for them and help them out. I think we\u2019ll go a long way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paul Johnson is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After a disappointing season last spring, Geneva\u2019s Ryan Kastor was hoping to be a part of something special…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":62504,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[6606,6607,6608,6609,65,6610,899],"class_list":{"0":"post-62503","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-geneva","8":"tag-aurora-beacon-news","9":"tag-aurora-beacon-news-sports","10":"tag-elgin-courier-news","11":"tag-elgin-courier-news-sports","12":"tag-geneva","13":"tag-high-school-sports","14":"tag-local-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/116542227520322661","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62503"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62503\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}