Krejci, Naperville North rally for win

From two deficits to two leads, Naperville North's baseball team seemed to come through at just the right time Monday.

The Huskies scored twice in the bottom of the sixth inning and held on for a 4-3 victory over visiting Wheaton North to stay within 2 games of first-place Naperville Central in the DuPage Valley Conference.

Wheaton North (20-8, 10-6) scored 2 runs in the top of the sixth to take its second lead of 3-2, but the Huskies 23-5, 13-3) bounced back with a pair of runs to reclaim the lead.

Jack Krejci doubled home a run and went to third on the play, then scored on a bang-bang play at the plate on Jon Ryan's short sacrifice fly in foul territory down the right-field line.

Reliever Kyle Klosak (5-2), who got the final two outs of the sixth inning for starter Matt LaCosse, loaded the bases with 3 walks and a hit batter in the seventh, but he escaped unscathed to preserve the win.

"This game could have gone either way but at the end we just pulled it through," Krejci said.

"When we're down we know there's no reason to hang our heads. We just stay positive. It's a crazy game and anything can happen."

It was a relatively quiet first four innings as LaCosse and Wheaton North starter Ed Norris (3-4) engaged in a scoreless duel. The Falcons broke the stalemate in the top of the fifth when Nick Norder reached on an error and scored on Dale Trimble's RBI double.

Naperville North's Alex Khoury singled home Idris Hanidu with the tying run for Naperville North in the bottom of the fifth, but an error allowed Charlie White to score all the way from first base to put the Huskies ahead 2-1.

While the Falcons didn't commit many errors, defensive lapses cost them when it counted.

"We had our chances but we probably didn't play good enough to beat a good team," said Falcons coach Dan Schoessling. "We gave them a couple extra chances with our defense, and you've got to be sharper than that against really good teams."

Justin Swider and Reece Butler, who went 3-for-4, had run-scoring hits for the Falcons in the sixth inning. Paul Bloodgood and Andrew Arenson had 2 hits apiece for Naperville North.

"We've had some guys step up with big plays like they did today," said Huskies coach Carl Hunckler.

"It's always important to get that first win of the series."