Sabalasky's clutch hit lifts Panthers
Any old hit would have made Ryan Sabalasky happy when he came to bat in the bottom of the sixth inning Wednesday.
So when the Panthers' No. 9 hitter slammed a double to the fence in center field, he nearly jumped out of his skin.
"I was looking changeup and he threw a fastball right down the plate and I just put a good bat on it," the junior shortstop said. "That's my third hit of the season. I was just going crazy out there. I didn't know what to do."
Sabalasky's hit drove in 2 runs to tie the game. He scored on Dave Wolak's single to right field to give the Panthers an 8-7 lead in Carol Stream. Pitcher Andrew Bergmann came on in the seventh inning and - after the Panthers' 7th error of the game allowed a runner to reach base - shut the door on the Redhawks (8-5, 2-2 DuPage Valley Conference) for the save.
"It was nice to see that," Panthers coach Mike Franzen said of Sabalasky's hit. "He hit it hard, and that was good. We haven't seen that lots. That was huge. That's the kind of thing you want to build on, rerun that highlight play in your mind every time you step up to the box. But that was a big spot. He stepped up."
It was a game the Redhawks felt they let get away.
"We're a little disappointed in our kids," Naperville Central assistant coach Mike Stock said. "It's not for a lack of effort, we're just not executing. We let one get away today. We came out slow. We battled back and got the 3-run lead there. In the end we gave away a couple of at-bats, in a couple of situations we didn't execute some pitches."
The Panthers put up 3 runs in the first inning, then watched Naperville Central score the next 6. Only 2 of those runs were earned, however, because Glenbard North (7-5, 1-3) had trouble handling the baseball.
"If we could've played defense today this wouldn't have been hopefully the kind of game it turned out to be, but they say that's baseball," Franzen said. "That's something we've got to get better at. But that's for another day."
Franzen didn't want to worry much about the errors.After a tough series last week against undefeated Wheaton North, he was just happy to get the team's first DVC win against one of the strongest teams in the league.
"This is huge," Franzen said. "This really puts us in a good spot. I'm really happy with what we did today."
"It was big," Sabalasky added. "After last week's series against Wheaton North, we had to come back strong."
The Redhawks plan to come back strong today in the second game of the three-game series.
"The best thing about this is we play (today) and we get to play Friday," Stock said. "Winning a series is easier when you win the first game out of three, but we'll bounce back (today)."
glenbard north 8, Naperville central 7
Naperville Central 030 301 0 -7-8-1
Glenbard North 300 203 X -8-9-7
2B: NC: Lopez 2, Linne. GN: Wolak, Sabalsky
WP: Kowalczyk LP: Ludwig. SV: Bergmann