Late Lockport rally beats Naperville Central

Naperville Central's baseball team doesn't make many mistakes, but a few on Saturday cost the Redhawks.

Lockport staged an impressive seventh-inning rally, scoring 5 runs to surprise host Naperville Central 7-5 in nonconference action.

The Redhawks (15-2) took a 5-2 lead to the seventh inning, an advantage gained on Ryan Walsh's RBI single in the bottom of the sixth.

Lockport (12-7), however, took advantage of two walks to lead off the inning and a dropped pop up in foul territory, one of 3 errors for the Redhawks. After Connor Petschke's infield single with the bases loaded drove in a run to make it 5-3, Matt Skrzypiec launched a grand slam to put the Porters ahead 7-5.

Lockport pitcher Ben Collesano (1-0), in relief of starter Garret Kooi, sent down Naperville Central in order in the bottom of the seventh to seal the win.

"That was great," said Skrzypiec, who also doubled home a run in the fourth inning. "We definitely knew that we had to get something going. When they started walking guys, we just had to jump on them."

Naperville Central played with heavy hearts after longtime pitching coach Phil Lawler passed away Friday night from cancer at age 60.

The Redhawks played through the pain and took a 1-0 lead in the second inning on Mason Hallett's solo home run. They built the lead to 4-0 in the third after Shane Conlon's sacrifice fly, Matt Cmiel's RBI single and Marc Mantucca's run-scoring double.

Naperville Central, however, struggled to generate runs for much of the game as starting pitcher Dan Ludwig pitched 5 solid innings while getting a no-decision. The Redhawks stranded three runners in scoring position and had two runners picked off.

"We didn't defend and we gave them all kinds of opportunities," said Redhawks coach Bill Seiple. "And give them credit. Their guy came up with a big hit, and good for them. We've got to pick the ball up better, but we'll be fine."

Skrzypiec's RBI double and Jory Koehler's run-scoring single narrowed Lockport's deficit to 4-2 in the fourth inning. Conlon and Conor Philbin each had 2 hits for the Redhawks.

"I thought we actually played pretty well," said Lockport coach Steve Stanicek. "We hung in there and just kind of battled."