A different outcome for Naperville Central
The last time Naperville Central saw Waubonsie Valley pitcher Jason Neville on April 1, Neville was dominant in leading Waubonsie Valley to a 2-0 win with a 3-hit shutout.
On Monday in Aurora with the Class 4A Marmion regional title on the line, a rematch pitted both starters from that matchup two months ago and featured entirely different results.
Naperville Central attacked early and often on its way to a 10-3 win.
"April to June weather-wise and development-wise, that's a whole different world," Naperville Central coach Mike Stock. "(Attacking early in the count) is more of a personality trait than a scouting report. Each group is a little different, but with this group we didn't spend a ton of time talking about who we're playing."
The No. 10-seeded Redhawks (19-17) came out and managed to manufacture a run off 3 hits in the first inning. Two innings later, they tacked on three more, and they ultimately took a 4-0 lead into the fifth inning while outhitting the No. 2 seed Waubonsie Valley 7-4.
In the bottom of the fifth inning, Waubonsie Valley (28-6) finally managed to score off Naperville Central's Glenn Kozlowski with an RBI single off the bat of first baseman Brandon Petersen. On the night Kozlowski surrendered 9 hits but gave up just 3 runs with 3 strikeouts in 5⅔ innings.
"(Grinding it out) is one of the biggest things you can do," Kozlowski said. "They're a good team. They hit well and they kept putting it in play and they made me throw all my pitches."
Naperville Central answered the Waubonsie Valley run in the fifth with two of their own in the top of the sixth.
"We know their top half is dangerous, but those guys in the bottom half of their order really turned it over," Waubonsie Valley coach Bryan Acevedo said of his opponents. "We had some baserunners and we had some opportunities ... we just didn't come up with the big hit today and that was the difference."
Waubonsie made its biggest push in the sixth inning when it scored two more runs and had Brandon Petersen at the plate representing the go-ahead run with the bases loaded. That prompted Naperville Central ace Ryan Eiermann's entry into the game with two outs.
He induced a groundout, and then the Redhawks answered with 4 runs in the top of the seventh to put the game on ice.