Naperville Central bounces back to defeat Fremd

On a cold, windy day not well suited for hitting, it looked like one frustrating inning might just do in Naperville Central.

The Redhawks allowed visiting Fremd (1-3) to jump ahead 3-0 on starter Pat Kaminsky with a 3-run third inning that was propelled by 3 Redhawks errors and a passed ball. Naperville Central (1-0), meanwhile, managed just 1 hit and no runs off Vikings lefty Clint Terry, who lasted just 4 shutout innings due to some wildness and a high pitch count.

But Naperville Central pulled out a thrilling 5-3 victory with two runs in the fifth and three more in the sixth, with Nick Linne sparking the late rally with his bat and his legs. Another key to the Redhawks' opening-day win was the stellar relief pitching from brothers Dan and Dave Ludwig, who combined to blank the Vikings the final four innings as Dan earned his first varsity win and Dave picked up the save with a scoreless seventh.

"The first three innings the cold was kinda getting to us," said Linne, who singled home a run in the fifth and then scored the game-winning run after swiping a pair of bases in the sixth. "Once you start getting used to it you realize you just have to battle through."

While Terry was surviving 6 walks in large part by allowing just one basehit, Fremd touched the hosts for 3 runs in the top of the third after Joey Depaolis opened the inning with an infield single and moved up on a sacrifice bunt.

The next five Vikings then reached safely - two more infield hits and a blooper off the bat of Terry that plated the third run - and Naperville Central helped the visitors with a trio of errors.

But Dan Ludwig, just a sophomore, pitched 3 shutout innings in relief of Kaminsky and ended up getting a win after the Redhawks rallied late off Fremd reliever Will Reising, who went 1 2/3 innings and allowed 5 runs, 4 of which were earned.

The younger Ludwig wanted to talk more about his team's defense than the cold.

"It could have been worse, the wind could have been blowing out," Ludwig said when asked about the wintry conditions. "And last year the infield might not have helped me as much. I played freshman baseball and they wouldn't have made all the plays (we made today)."

Ludwig had a pair of strikeouts, but the other 7 outs he recorded came on groundballs.

"It's too cold. Our elements were killing us early," Redhawks coach Bill Seiple said. "Their lefty (Terry) threw extremely well but I thought all three of our pitchers threw well. You hope on a day like today that you can pitch and defend. We had the one (bad) inning, but I'm really proud of Danny. He came in in a tough situation and threw the ball well."

Fremd coach Chris Piggott was hoping to get more than 4 innings out of Terry, but the walks ended up preventing him from staying deep into the game.

"He did OK, but he went deep in too many counts," Piggott said. "I think we should be a pretty good team this year, but right now our record doesn't show it."

Naperville Central started its winning rally in the sixth when Matt Cmiel walked and eventually scored the tying run. Then with two outs Linne singled and stole a pair of bases, which set the stage for Mike Oles' flare down the right-field line that scored what proved to be the decisive run in the game.