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Glenbard North's Orze makes sure to finish what he starts

At the most crucial times Monday's pitching performance was vintage Eric Orze.

Despite some rocky moments Glenbard North's senior ace gutted out a complete game in a 9-3 victory at Naperville Central in the DuPage Valley Conference baseball opener for both teams.

The right-hander, committed to Northwest Florida State, pushed through a 40-pitch bottom of the fifth inning and stranded the bases loaded to keep the Panthers ahead. Facing the possibility of being relieved in the final innings, Orze responded by needing only 12 total pitches in the sixth and seventh to close out the victory.

Of the 21 outs 12 were ground outs and 6 were strikeouts.

"Coach always emphasizes pitching to contact, so I just did my best to keep the ball down and obviously when that happens you get more groundballs," Orze said. "I think I've got the best defense infield-wise in the DVC, so I have a lot of confidence in them."

An unearned run gave Naperville Central (6-5, 0-1) a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first, and Redhawks starter Glenn Kozlowski kept Glenbard North (7-3, 1-0) scoreless until the Panthers exploded for 6 unearned runs in the third inning. Orze and Luke Greenberg singled home runs before Alex Taylor drove in 2 runs with a double.

The Redhawks committed 2 errors that inning and added two more when Glenbard North scored twice in the sixth inning.

"We talk about how that seems to be contagious and someone's got to step up and stop it," said Redhawks coach Mike Stock. "We just needed someone to stop that bleeding so that 6-run inning was a 3-run inning or less, and it just didn't happen. But you know what, it's never a lack of effort."

After Greenberg's RBI single put the Panthers ahead 7-1 in the top of the fifth, Naperville Central put five straight runners on base and struck for 2 runs in the bottom of the inning on back-to-back run-scoring singles by Billy Oliver and Mack Heatherly. Orze escaped the bases-loaded jam and the Panthers immediately got the 2 runs back in the sixth.

Greenberg went 3-for-4 while Orze and Taylor added 2 hits for the Panthers. Justin Wegner went 3-for-3 with 2 doubles for Naperville Central.

"It's one of many games to go, but it's good to get that first one in the books," said Panthers coach Rich Smelko.

Follow Kevin on Twitter @kevin_schmit

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