Neuqua Valley pads UEC lead vs. Stars
Critical as much as it's busy, this week is a doozy for Neuqua Valley's baseball team.
So pardon the Wildcats if they don't get too excited about Monday.
Granted, their 13-4 Upstate Eight Conference win over St. Charles North displayed the exact effort they'd like to duplicate the rest of this week.
To maintain their status as UEC front-runners, however, resting on the laurels of one game won't cut it. Not with another game against the North Stars, three against Larkin and a makeup against Waubonsie Valley looming.
"That was a great win, and we're going out there and proving we deserve to be up there," said Wildcats outfielder Joe Ippolito. "We'll just go back at it again on Wednesday and keep playing tough. We've just got to be on top of our game every single day and we'll be OK."
St. Charles North (13-10, 9-7) actually took the lead three times in the first three innings against Neuqua Valley ace Mike McKinley (4-2). Mike Budka's 2-run first-inning homer staked the North Stars to a 2-0 lead and Ryan Richardson's third-inning sacrifice fly put them on top 4-3.
Neuqua Valley (18-8, 12-3) tied it twice before taking control with 4 runs in the bottom of the third inning. Craig Provow's 2-run double boosted the lead to 7-4.
Ippolito's solo home run extended the lead in the fourth, as did Jordan Williamson's bases-loaded walk. The Wildcats took full advantage of 7 walks, 4 hit batters and St. Charles North's 5 errors.
"We've just got to pitch better," said St. Charles North coach Todd Genke. "It's been a struggle for us on the mound. Offensively I thought we played well, but we got behind 9 runs. That's tough to come back from."
Leading 10-4 after four innings, Neuqua Valley added 3 runs in the sixth to pad the margin. Jeff Dean, Ryan Wagner and Mike Gerber drove them in.
McKinley settled down after the third inning, allowing no hits in the next three frames. He allowed 4 hits and struck out six in 6 innings before Drew Sutton pitched a scoreless seventh inning of relief.
"We got some extra at bats and we were fortunate," said Neuqua Valley coach Robin Renner. "I liked the way we got down and we came back. We stayed aggressive and stayed positive."
Glenbard East 9, Wheaton North 6: The Rams (8-17, 5-11) rallied from a 6-1 deficit to knock Wheaton North (20-3, 13-3) into a first-place tie in the DuPage Valley Conference. Winning pitcher Sean Little (1-0) provided the game-winning hit with a fifth-inning solo homer. Kevin McGarry, Jeremy Juhl and Joe Dathe each had 2 hits. Nick Chesky earned his first save.
Naperville North 12, WW South 3: The Huskies (20-5, 13-3) moved into a first-place tie in the DuPage Valley Conference by breaking out to a 9-0 lead after five innings. Dan Grimley launched a 2-run homer while Charlie White improved to 5-1 on the mound.
Naperville Central 10, West Chicago 5: Matt Cmiel went 4-for-4 with 3 runs scored, Ben Lucas added 3 hits and Marc Mantucca homered for the Redhawks (17-11, 11-5) in their DuPage Valley Conference win. Luke Holm (2-0) won on the mound.
Montini 6, Aurora Central Catholic 5: The Broncos (13-6, 7-4) scored the go-ahead run in the bottom of the sixth inning of their Suburban Catholic Conference victory. Jeff Spokas, who homered, and Kevin Hankins each had 2 hits. Sean Keeley (4-2) was the complete-game winning pitcher.
Driscoll 7, St. Francis 5: Rick Divito improved to 7-0 with a 5-inning effort that featured 8 strikeouts. The Highlanders (16-10, 6-5) scored 3 runs in the top of the sixth inning to seize the lead.