Krolikowski leads Batavia to 6-4 victory over Wheaton North

Ryan Welter has been catching Brian Krolikowski since both were 11 years old, so with things getting tense Saturday morning in the Class 4A St. Charles North sectional championship game and Welter heading to the mound, he knew just what to say - or not say.

Krolikowski, a Miami of Ohio-bound senior, had just given up a 3-run home run to Wheaton North's Vanderbilt-bound Jack DeAno, tying the game at 4 in the fifth inning.

"I walked out there and smiled," Welter said. "I knew we'd get the runs, he knew we'd get the runs, it was just a matter of him pitching his game. Just a matter of him getting his head on straight and he did just that."

Batavia did get those runs, two unearned runs in the sixth, and Krolikowski made it stand by stranding 5 runners in the final 2 innings for a 6-4 final.

Third-seeded Batavia (30-6) claimed just the second sectional title in school history and a date in Monday's Class 4A Rockford supersectional against Cary Grove (30-8) at 4:30 p.m.

"It's just another step along the way," Welter said. "We all know what our ultimate goal is and we're just working as hard as we can to get there."

Wheaton North (28-6) started the year 20-0 before finishing 8-6 in its last 14 games. Batavia began 1-3 and even had a few of its seniors wondering if this was going to be another year that ended in disappointment.

Oh no. The Bulldogs are 29-3 since and one victory away from joining their 2004 squad as the only to reach state.

"(At) 1-3, to tell you the truth I thought it was going to be another year like the last few years, first round playoffs and out," Krolikowski said. "The chemistry on this team and how we came together is the whole reason how we finished the season. If you ever want to find the baseball team on a weekend, we're all at one house. We're always together. The chemistry is just phenomenal."

Wheaton North (28-6) took a 1-0 lead in the first. DeAno led off with a single, stole second, moved to third on a groundout and scored on a passed ball.

DeAno (7-2) and Trey Martin combined to strike out 12 with no walks. But on a couple key at-bats, the Falcons couldn't get the third strike.

Jordan Coffey singled on a 3-2 pitch in the second. With two outs, Henry DuQue, a foreign exchange student from Venezuela, drove an 0-2 offering from DeAno over the left-field fence for a 2-1 lead.

"He took advantage of a mistake," Wheaton North coach Dan Schoessling said. "He didn't miss it. We didn't get the pitch to the spot we wanted to."

The Bulldogs increased their lead to 4-1 with single runs in the third and fifth. Welter started the third-inning with a double, then after Tim Schofield's sacrifice bunt, Joe Aguliar drove a ball up the middle against the drawn-in infield for an RBI. In the fifth, Tyler Lindquist reached on an infield single and eventually scored on a wild pitch.

Krolikowski (6-2) appeared on cruise control retiring 14 of 15 hitters until Wheaton North's Justin Swider and Jack Quinn singled with 2 outs in the fifth. With one swing, DeAno put the Falcons right back in the game by hammering a 3-run home run to right center and tying the game at 4.

"You can't assume you are rolling against these guys," Batavia coach Matt Holm said. "It had that feeling a little bit. Krolo lost a little break on his curveball but man did he gut it out. Two of his best games in his career in his last two games."

Coffey again started the rally in the sixth with another 2-strike single. Adam Karger followed with a single to center, moving pinch runner Ian Brunton to third. With DuQue at the plate, DeAno let a high inside pitch sail that catcher Quinn couldn't come up with, and Brunton raced in with the go-ahead run. Karger made it 6-4, scoring on a two-out throwing error.

"Definitely we didn't get it done (defensively) today," Schoessling said. "That's part of baseball, those things are going to happen, it's unfortunate it happened today in some key situations."

Wheaton North didn't go quietly in the sixth or seventh. Swider hit a two-out shot to DuQue at third base in the sixth, and DuQue knocked it down and touched third for a force out to leave the bases loaded.

In the seventh after DeAno's third hit of the day, No. 2 hitter Mike Small fouled off 6 pitches and eventually drew an 11-pitch walk, putting the tying runs on base with one out. Krolikowski responded by striking out Aric Dama on a low off-speed pitch and getting Martin to fly to Coffey in right, setting off another celebration for the Bulldogs.

"Everyone doing the little things, that's the story of our season," Coffey said. "Total team effort today."

The Falcons, who finished fourth in state last year, won their first outright DuPage Valley title since 1980.

"We battled against a great pitcher and a great team," Schoessling said. "No shame in losing to a team that just won its 30th game. We had some opportunities but you tip your hat to their pitcher and defense for getting it done today. We put the ball in play in some key situations and they got it done."