Baseball: Neuqua Valley pitchers shut down WW South, Naperville Central
At the end of a long week of baseball, it's difficult to ask too much from a pitching staff.
Then you see Andrew Churchman throw five shutout innings and you realize Neuqua Valley doesn't possess a normal pitching staff.
The Wildcats stayed unbeaten with a pair of DuPage Valley Conference victories on Saturday, capped by an 8-0 win at Naperville Central.
Churchman, Jake Karaba and Noah Ernst combined on the 2-hitter just after Neuqua Valley (14-0, 9-0) beat Wheaton Warrenville South 9-2 in the morning behind 6-plus innings from Zach Wenz and two outs from Kyle Pettingill.
The Wildcats scored their 17 runs on 27 hits.
"It's fun to be in there, to know if you get on someone's going to hit you in," said Wildcats outfielder Evan Ranneklev, who had two triples to give him seven on the season. "It's fun to play baseball like that."
While Ranneklev continued his streak of triples, leadoff hitter Ryan Wheeler went 4-for-5 with 3 doubles against the Redhawks (9-5, 6-3) and No. 2 hitter Nick Taylor went 4-for-4 with 2 RBI.
Ernst launched a solo home run in the top of the second inning as the Wildcats scored in four straight innings highlighted by a 4-run fifth that broke open the game.
"It's great hitting with everyone," Wheeler said. "Top of the order, bottom of the order, it doesn't matter. Overall we're just coming together as a team."
Naperville Central beat Waubonsie Valley 7-2 earlier on Saturday behind a 5-run top of the fifth. Joe Murray and Tommy Carlsen each drove in 2 runs as Vinny Abruzzo picked up the win with 5 innings of work.
The Redhawks couldn't keep the bats going against Neuqua Valley. They loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the fourth and had two singles to start the fifth, but Churchman escaped unscathed both times.
"We've got work to do," said Redhawks coach Mike Stock. "We've got to be more competitive at the plate. The best thing is it's coming right back at us on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday."
Churchman, who didn't allow a hit until the fifth inning, became the fourth Neuqua Valley pitcher to start a shutout.
"I just continue to look forward to giving us the best chance to win because we obviously have very solid defense, very solid offense," Churchman said. "It's nice to get out there and do my thing because I know I have it in me."
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