Baseball: Neuqua Valley drops Lake Park
Neuqua Valley baseball coach Robin Renner delivered a postgame confession on Wednesday.
“I told them, ‘No disrespect to coach (Denny) Short or coach (John Fumagalli), but that game had absolutely nothing to do with any coach,'” he said. “They pitched. They made plays. They hit. That was all them.”
It was truly a complete effort from the Wildcats, who beat Lake Park 6-1 in DuPage Valley Conference action in Roselle.
With five DVC games to play the Lancers (17-8, 12-7) remain a game behind Naperville Central, which is tied with Waubonsie Valley at 13-6 atop the standings. Neuqua Valley (16-10) is still within striking distance at 11-8.
“With six games left to go we're one out. We need to come out and be aggressive,” said Lancers coach Dan Colucci, whose team has two more games with the Wildcats before closing the season with three games against Naperville Central. “It's not about losing. It's how you go about your business. We just let a team come in here and take it from us.”
Wildcats starter Austin Waeghe allowed a first-inning run on Colin Fowich's RBI double, but Waeghe finished with 6 shutout innings in front of an errorless defense.
The offense backed up Waeghe as well, especially late. Eight different players accounted for Neuqua Valley's 11 hits as the Wildcats laced six extra-base hits and scored 5 runs in the fifth and sixth inning.
“We just stuck in there the whole game,” Waeghe said. “They got the first run but we just kept battling. It was a team win. We were all really focused on winning this one.”
Tim Schneider's RBI single tied the game at 1-1 for Neuqua Valley in the bottom of the second. James Gargano's RBI double broke the tie in the fifth, and he was followed by run-scoring doubles from Eric Nelson and Will Drake.
Drew O'Toole's triple and Gargano's double added a pair of runs in the sixth. Max Vercautren, who went 3-for-3, scored in both innings.
Fowich went 2-for-3 for Lake Park as Jim McDonald took the loss on the mound.
“Everybody was hitting,” Gargano said. “It wasn't just the top of the order. It was also the bottom of the order. When we had runners in scoring position, we capitalized.”
Follow Kevin on Twitter