Kaminska, Redhawks put their best foot forward
Naperville Central's baseball team would love to call Monday's game a turning point in its season.
The Redhawks won't. Not unless a string of wins follows.
That's the kind of month it's been for Naperville Central, which can't seem to get any momentum going in DuPage Valley Conference play.
It looked good for one day, though, as the Redhawks played sharp in a 4-2 victory over visiting Wheaton Warrenville South.
"We've definitely had a rough start," said complete-game winning pitcher Pat Kaminska (1-1), who struck out 10 and scattered 5 hits. "It's just the little things we haven't been doing. There's no rhythm right now, but we're coming with a little more energy."
Losers in five of their previous six games - including three 1-run games - the Redhawks (10-8, 4-3) were anxious to start their three-game series with the Tigers (10-6, 4-3) on the right foot.
Ben Lucas' 2-run, two-out single did just that in the bottom of the second inning. Steve Smith's RBI single narrowed the gap in the third for the Tigers and Mike Olp tied it in the fourth when he tripled and scored on Robert Grabek's groundout.
Naperville Central took its 4-2 lead in the fifth on Matt Cmiel's RBI groundout and an error. All 4 runs were unearned against Grabek (3-2), who pitched well in 6 innings.
"We didn't do our job defensively, and that hurt us," said WW South coach Tim Brylka. "But I like our attitude out there. We'll come out there every day and we'll put up a fight."
The Tigers put up a good one in the seventh inning after Kaminska cruised through the middle innings with help from a diving catch by left fielder Wesley Webb.
After Kaminska notched the first two outs of the seventh, R.J. Hoshell reached on a dropped third strike, Alex Lopez walked and Smith had an infield single.
With the bases loaded and the go-ahead run on first base, Kaminska notched his 10th strikeout to end the game.
"Pat was sharp, their kid was sharp," said Redhawks assistant coach Mike Stock. "This was the kind of game we've been hoping for. Now we just need a few more games like this to finally get some momentum going."
Wheaton North 11, West Chicago 1: Trey Martin, who drove in 5 runs, hit 3 of the Falcons' 6 home runs. Jack DeAno, Jeff Schalk and Jack Quinn also went deep for Wheaton North, which stayed unbeaten at 14-0 overall and 7-0 in the DuPage Valley Conference. Aric Dama (4-0) was the complete-game winning pitcher.
Naperville North 8, Glenbard North 4: The Huskies (11-5, 4-3) scored 8 unanswered runs while rallying for the DuPage Valley Conference win. Danny Sagen blasted a 2-run homer and Dan Grimley also had 2 RBI. Charlie White (2-1) pitched 6 innings to win on the mound. Eddie Rose and Marko Govedarica had 2 hits apiece for Glenbard North (8-7, 2-5).
Neuqua Valley 7, Elgin 0: Rob Skowronski struck out six and allowed only 2 hits over 6 innings as the Wildcats (11-6, 6-1) won in the Upstate Eight Conference. Jordan Williamson homered twice and Ryan Wagner added a third home run.
Waubonsie Valley 3, Lake Park 2: Kevin Kirchner (3-2) struck out five and allowed 4 hits for the Warriors (7-9, 6-4) in their Upstate Eight Conference win. Matt Kaiser's 2-run seventh-inning homer accounted for both Lake Park (3-11, 2-5) runs.
BOX SCORE
Naperville Central 4, WW South 2
WW South 001 100 0 -2-5-3
Naperville Central 020 020 X -4-7-1
2B: WWS: Conley.
3B: WWS: Olp.
WP: Kaminska (1-1); LP: Grabek (3-2).