Nothing settled in DVC race

On the mound and in the field, it was all about the arms in Saturday's baseball doubleheader between Naperville Central and Wheaton Warrenville South.

Nick Egan's 3-hitter gave the Tigers a 4-1 victory in Game 1 at Benedictine University in Lisle. In the second game Naperville Central earned a 3-2 win and a split after right fielder Pat Kaminska twice threw out the tying run at the plate.

Redhawks catcher John Holm also threw out two runners trying to steal second base. Add that to a well-pitched game by Andy Pucher (6-2) and it was enough to give the Redhawks (16-9, 11-7) two out of three games in the DuPage Valley Conference series.

"What a tough day. I mean, those guys are good," said Redhawks coach Bill Seiple. "It's another two out of three for us, which is great."

Entering the final week of play, four teams -- Wheaton North (12-6 DVC), Naperville Central (11-7), Naperville North (11-7) and Glenbard North (10-8) -- have a shot at the conference title.

With a three-game rivalry series to be played between the Wheatons, the Napervilles and Glenbard North and East, it should be a wild week in the DVC.

"A sweep (Saturday) would have put us in the mix, but we can still have a say in how it turns out," said Tigers coach Tim Brylka. "It's tough to lose one when you get two great pitching performances like we got. Overall I thought we played pretty well."

In the opener WW South (10-14, 9-9) broke a 1-1 tie with lone runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings. Egan drove in 2 runs with a triple and a single. He also struck out five and allowed no earned runs while improving to 3-4 on the mound.

"We were coming off a loss on Thursday, so we knew we had to come back and play a good game," Egan said. "We wanted to win both, but they made some big plays and we didn't in that second game."

A 3-run third inning gave Pucher (6-2) all the offense he needed in Game 2. John Holm singled in 2 runs and Kaminska added an RBI single. Tom Marsh's run-scoring double narrowed the gap to 3-2 in the bottom of the third, but that was it for the scoring.

While Tigers starter Dustin Quattrocchi (3-1) dominated through a 3-hitter with 14 strikeouts, Naperville Central's defense controlled its end of the game.

Kaminska proved critical in right field, throwing out runners at the plate to end the third and fourth inning and maintain the 3-2 lead.

"You can't expect that, that's for sure," said Kaminska, who threw a no-hitter in Thursday's 1-0 win over the Tigers. "My main goal is to back up my pitchers as much as I want to be backed up."