Naperville North laughs last vs. Wheaton N.
For a baseball game that looked a bit ugly much of Monday afternoon, Naperville North ended up sitting pretty at the end.
The Huskies scored an opening-round victory in their key three-game DuPage Valley Conference series against host Wheaton North, pushing across the winning run in the top of the eighth inning and holding on for a 6-5 decision.
Naperville North (9-2, 3-0) starter Jake Naumann, who got a no decision after 3¿ innings, drove in the run with a one-out double that scored Devon Moon, who reached on an error.
"I didn't help much pitching today, so I knew I needed to help with the bat," Naumann said. "Getting that hit made me feel a lot better."
Aaron Augustyniak (4-1) pitched 1¿ scoreless innings of relief to notch the win, escaping the eighth inning despite hitting two batters. Nick Giannini also kept the Falcons (8-2, 3-1) at bay with 2¿ innings of scoreless relief.
Falcons starter Trey Martin got a no decision after 7 solid innings that included 9 strikeouts, no walks and 2 earned runs.
"On both sides there were pretty ugly situations," said Huskies coach Carl Hunckler. "There were a lot of heroes and a lot of goats, and fortunately for us we had one more hero than goat."
Huskies center fielder Ben Kelsey saved the game with the score tied 5-5 in the bottom of the seventh when Wheaton North's Brett Kirchhofer singled with Nick Ernst at second base.
Ernst tried to score, but Kelsey fired a strike to catcher Mike Nodzenski, who blocked the plate and applied the tag for the final out.
"We didn't play very well," Wheaton North coach Dan Schoessling said of the game that featured 6 errors and seven hit batters. "We gave a good team way too many chances."
Jack DeAno had an RBI single to spark a 3-run fourth inning that gave the Falcons a 5-2 lead. The Huskies tied it with a 3-run fifth capped by Moon's sacrifice fly. Nodzenski, who went 3-for-4, singled home a run in the fifth.
"It's always good to get the first win in the series, and that's what we did today," Kelsey said.