Provow leads Neuqua's home run parade

Of the first three pitches Neuqua Valley first baseman Craig Provow saw Wednesday, two of them wound up on the far side of the outfield fence.

They weren't lonely over there.

The Wildcats pounded 6 home runs and batted around twice in a five-inning 20-2 victory over Bartlett (19-12, 14-9 Upstate Eight Conference) in Naperville.

"I don't know, something just clicked today," Provow said. "I was seeing the ball good in batting practice, and the wind blowing out kind of helped me a little."

"This was rare," Neuqua Valley coach Robin Renner said. "It happens every once in a blue moon. And it's not like we were that much better than them, because we're not. Things just kind of went our way. We got the pitches to hit, and this was the best day to hit this year. We took advantage of it."

The Wildcats (22-10, 16-5) scored 10 runs in the first inning, sending 14 batters to the plate. Mike Gerber's 3-run homer preceded Provow's 3-run homer, a solo shot by catcher Alex Lincoln and yet another 3-run home run from Jordan Williamson. All of the homers went out to either left field or center, riding a strong wind, though they didn't seem to need it.

"They were hard hit, but when the wind is going that way and all our balls are hit that way, they go out there that much faster," Renner said. "I mean they have no resistance at all. Whoosh. They just go."

"Some of them were hit really hard," said Provow, who led off the second inning with a homer to center. "I think my first one (the wind) helped me out a little bit to the opposite field, but the second one I just tagged."

The Wildcats batted around again in the fourth inning, Ryan Sullivan coming off the bench to clout a 2-run homer to left.

"We had a solid game (Tuesday, a 5-4 victory over Neuqua) and we had hopes of at least overall making the conference race interesting down to the final day and to come back after a solid victory for us and not perform the way we can play is a frustrating thing," Bartlett coach Chris Pemberton said.

"We knew the ball was going to be hit today, but we have to make pitches that are in good locations and down in the zone, and if you don't do those things, good, quality teams are going to hit the ball."

Neuqua Valley senior pitcher Chris Widup went the distance for the victory.