One win streak ends, another extended

If only for a day, either Waubonsie Valley or Neuqua Valley had to cool off.

In the first of three critical baseball games between rivals and contenders for the Upstate Eight Conference Valley Division title, Waubonsie Valley struck first blood with Tuesday's 6-1 victory in Aurora.

By extending their winning streak to 11 straight games, the Warriors (19-3, 14-1) at the same time ended an 11-game winning streak for Neuqua Valley (18-5, 12-3).

"It was a great team win," said Waubonsie Valley first baseman Luke Marzano. "Everyone knows how big of a rivalry we are, Waubonsie and Neuqua, and we're right at the top of the conference race. It's nice to get Game 1 here, but now we're focused on Game 2 to try to get that one."

Waubonsie Valley put all phases together, starting with Brandon Petersen's 87-pitch complete game in which he faced only four batters over the minimum. He retired 10 straight to end the game in front of an errorless defense.

Then there was the Marzano-led offense. The senior doubled home 2 runs in both the second and third inning as the Warriors scored all their runs in the first three innings.

"They're good hitters and they took advantage and scored those runs," said Wildcats coach Robin Renner. "Coach (Denny) Short counted 11 times that we just hit lasers, and two of those ended up being hits. There's not much you can do when you hit it at somebody. The good thing about it is we get to play them again tomorrow."

Neuqua Valley starting pitcher Will Drake settled down after the third inning, retiring nine of 10 to end the game. Matt Gould's fourth-inning double scored Tyler Tesmond with the Wildcats' lone run.

"They definitely attacked us early and we didn't get going until the fourth inning," Tesmond said. "We're a better team than what we showed. I know tomorrow we're going to bounce back for sure."

Eight players had hits for Waubonsie Valley while Ryan Strick, who didn't have a hit, still reached base twice and scored twice. Ryan Jones and Nick Price each had run-scoring hits.

The series continues Wednesday in Naperville as the Wildcats try to even the series.

"That's kind of the way we've been playing for a while now, coming out and getting ahead early," said Waubonsie Valley coach Bryan Acevedo. "And we kept adding on, which was a big key."

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