Small ball sends Naperville North to 9-1 victory over Benet

Naperville North plays baseball with the same chatter and edge it has since the varsity program debuted in 1976.

Nonconference or not, Benet pitcher John Boyle knew what he was facing.

"They bunt a lot, they play small ball, they steal bases a lot," said the Creighton-bound right-hander. "But I just couldn't really find the strike zone today. That was my fault."

It was hard to pin too much blame on him for host Naperville North's 9-1 victory. When Boyle (1-1) left after four innings the Redwings were still in the game, down 3-0.

Point the finger at Huskies starting pitcher Wes Torrez and reliever Charlie White. They quieted Benet until Naperville North (5-1) put it away with a 5-run sixth inning.

"I think I came out with a positive attitude, which came over to my pitching," said Torrez, the 6-foot-5 High Point University recruit. Former big-league hurler Mike Torrez was there encouraging his son to locate the fastball, curve and changeup.

Wes Torrez (2-0) struck out five, walked three, allowed 6 hits and a run before Huskies coach Carl Hunckler lifted the right-hander after 5 innings and 87 pitches, 55 for strikes.

"Throughout the game I started hitting my spots better," Torrez said. "Toward the end I got a little more tired. I need to work on that, run a little bit more."

Run more? Sounds like Huskies offense. Starting with White's drag bunt single on Boyle's first pitch the signals were go. They added pressure with 3 first-inning steals, taking a 2-0 lead on RBI singles by Devon Moon and Jack Krejci.

"We just took off. We're a fast team, so we knew we could steal some bases today," said White, who came on to strike out six batters - four in the seventh due to a dropped third strike - in 2 scoreless innings.

Naperville North relentlessly worked the count against Boyle, scoring an unearned run in the third before he left after four innings having thrown 89 pitches.

Benet (3-3) touched Torrez for its run in the fifth on Mike Cunningham's RBI double to score Pat Gelwicks. It was Cunningham's fifth double in three games spanning two days.

Naperville North scored only 1 run in the fifth despite loading the bases with no outs but made up for it in the sixth. Singles by Nick Laskowsky and Dan Grimley helped earn a 5-run knockout.

"We did some good things and we did some not-so-good things," Hunckler summarized. "We had opportunities all day long."