Baseball: Neuqua Valley's Kulak no-hits Metea Valley
James Kulak saved a little something extra for the final five batters he faced on Wednesday.
After giving up a full-count walk in the sixth inning - the only baserunner allowed by Neuqua Valley's junior lefty - Kulak mowed down five straight to cap a no-hitter in the Wildcats' 7-0 baseball victory over Metea Valley in the Class 4A Neuqua Valley regional semifinals in Naperville.
Despite the frustration of coming within inches of a perfect game, Kulak stayed focused to send top-seeded Neuqua Valley (32-1) into Saturday's regional title game to face Thursday's winner between Downers Grove South and Minooka.
"All my stuff was working today, so things just turned out well," Kulak said of his first no-hitter since pitching as a freshman on the sophomore team. "Fastball, cutter and curveball, I was able to locate them well and throw them for strikes. Right when I got out of the bullpen, everything was working."
In front of an errorless defense, Kulak struck out six, coaxed eight groundball outs - four to shortstop James Gargano - and allowed only four balls to be hit out of the infield. The Wildcats' offense, meanwhile, just did what it does.
Neuqua Valley took advantage of a pair of Metea Valley (16-16) errors to score 3 runs in the bottom of the first inning, added another run in the second inning and pulled away with a 3-run fifth.
"I think our inexperience showed a little in the first inning," said Metea Valley coach Craig Tomczak, whose team started a freshman, two sophomores and two juniors. "You get out of the first inning, you take a deep breath and relax a little bit. And we weren't able to do that. I don't know that the result would have been any different, but I think we could have stayed in the game a little longer."
Noah Herdman went 3-for-3 with a pair of RBI singles. Jack Rigoni and Evan Ranneklev had first-inning RBI singles while Tyler Cristofaro and Tim Schneider singled in fifth-inning runs.
Cade Sullivan was the only Metea Valley player to reach base on the sixth-inning walk.
"A seven-inning no-hitter, that's pretty special," said Neuqua Valley coach Robin Renner. "Some of the best pitchers that have come through Illinois haven't been able to do that."
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