Baseball: Naperville Central's Boomgarden sounds off in bottom of seventh
With the bases loaded, nobody out and Naperville Central's baseball team trailing by a run in the bottom of the seventh inning, a world of options existed for Josh Boomgarden at the plate.
Boomgarden chose wisely.
The senior outfielder bounced a single up the middle against a drawn-in infield, driving in a pair of runs to give the Redhawks Friday's 3-2 walk-off DuPage Valley Conference victory over visiting Naperville North.
Jared Suchevits opened the inning with an infield single, then Ryan Eiermann doubled. After an intentional walk to Gabe Soria, Boomgarden came through against Huskies reliever Matt Schwartz.
"I just wanted to put the ball in play, and something good will happen," said Boomgarden, who also gave the Redhawks a 1-0 lead with a two-out fifth-inning single. "Muscling it up the middle with the infield in. Just trying to get the job done by tying it or winning it."
Eiermann struck out 11 while going the distance for Naperville Central (15-7, 10-6), the lone blemish coming in the top of the sixth when the Huskies (9-13, 9-7) took a 2-1 lead on a 2-run single by Schwartz.
"We battled back but we need to learn how to close things against good teams," said Huskies coach Carl Hunckler. "We had opportunities to get runs that we didn't take advantage of. You usually need more than two to win."
Naperville North starter Brett Grzesiak was tough in 6 innings, which was especially impressive considering he was scheduled to pitch on Saturday but was forced to the mound a day early due to a pregame injury. Grzesiak scattered 6 hits before being relieved after the Suchevits infield single.
The three-game series continues at 11 a.m. Saturday in the DVC ALS Step Up to the Plate event at Wheaton Warrenville South.
"We want to win big games like this," said Naperville Central coach Mike Stock. "A game like this comes down to kids stepping up and making plays. It was a good day to have last at-bats."
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