Waubonsie Valley wins 12th straight
Waubonsie Valley junior pitcher Jason Neville knew he didn't have his best stuff on Wednesday, but his resiliency knew no bounds.
Even after he took a line drive off his knee in the bottom of the seventh, the ball ricocheted to first baseman Brandon Petersen for a critical second out.
Neville came out of the game as a precaution, but he still earned the win after reliever Quinton Zielke got the final out in the Warriors' 5-4 Upstate Eight Valley win over Neuqua Valley in Naperville.
It was the 12th straight win overall for the Warriors (20-3, 15-1) and second straight over Neuqua Valley (18-6, 12-4). Waubonsie Valley goes for the series sweep Thursday as it tries to gain more distance atop the Valley standings.
"It hurt pretty bad," said Neville, who struck out eight and walked none. "I tried to continue on but I just couldn't. It's happened three times this year. I've gotten hit in the chest, the ankle and my knee now. I've been fine every time after. I think I'll be fine this time."
The lead changed hands twice before Nick Hilgemann and Tyler Tesmond drove in runs for Neuqua Valley in the bottom of the fifth to tie the game at 4-4. The score stayed that way until the top of the seventh when the Warriors' Garret Howicz led off with a single and eventually scored the game-winning run on Petersen's sacrifice fly.
Neuqua Valley managed a two-out walk in the bottom of the seventh, but Zielke coaxed a popout to end it and notch the save.
"There were far too many at-bats where we didn't compete," said Wildcats coach Robin Renner. "That's a sign of not having a plan and a sign of panic. And we can't do that. We haven't done that. All of a sudden the last two days I'm looking at a different team than I've seen in the first 22."
Waubonsie Valley opened the scoring in the second inning with Nick Santoro's sacrifice fly, but Wildcats starting pitcher Alex DiFranco put his team ahead 2-1 in the bottom of the inning with a 2-run homer.
The Warriors reclaimed a 4-2 lead in the fifth on run-scoring hits by Howicz and Petersen and a sacrifice fly by Ryan Jones. Logan Vlk took the loss in relief for Neuqua Valley.
"That's a very good hitting team over there and the last two days we've done enough to get wins," said Warriors coach Bryan Acevedo. "Brandon (Petersen) was good yesterday. Jason was real good today when he needed to be. Kind of a tough one to take off the knee there, but hopefully we'll get him back here in a couple days real healthy."
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