Baseball: Naperville North can't stop Batavia

Tyler Kledzik put on a show Thursday as Batavia stayed undefeated on the spring.

The second baseman had a perfect day at the plate, while making two diving plays in the field, to lead the Bulldogs to a 10-4 baseball win over Naperville North at Wheaton College's Pfund Field in Carol Stream.

After a single in the opening inning, Kledzik cleared the bases with a double as part of a 6-run second inning. He then launched a 2-run homer to right in the fourth before walking in his final at-bat.

"I had runners on base when I hit the double," Kledzik said, "so I was trying to put the ball in play. The homer came with two strikes. I was just trying to hit it hard somewhere."

Kledzik wasn't the only offensive star for Batavia, which finished with 10 hits. Luke Beckmann cranked out a double and triple and drove in 3 runs.

"We were swinging the bats well," Kledzik said. "Putting the ball in play when we had to and hitting the ball hard.

"This is a lot better start than we had last year. I like what I'm seeing. The defense has been solid, we are hitting well and the pitching has been good too."

The Bulldogs were forced to use a trio of pitchers after staff ace Glenn Albanese was scratched due to illness. After starting on Monday, Alex Kielion came on in relief to throw 3⅔ innings of scoreless ball.

"(Alex) did a fantastic job," Batavia coach Matt Holm said. "He gutted it out. Everyone has already pitched this week so that is why we had to use so many. They all did a nice job."

Luke Golson started on the mound while Michael Fossali tossed the final inning for Batavia, which improved to 4-0.

"The biggest difference (from the start last year) is we have more seniors contributing," Holm said. "Last year, our seniors we great, we just didn't have a lot of them. So these guys played a lot last year. To have seniors with a year under their belt as starters is big."

Naperville North (1-3-1) scored 3 runs in the third, with Colin Rivard and Matt Pillatsch picking up RBI. Jack Whitley contributed an RBI single in the seventh.