Naperville Central wins 20th DuPage Valley game

Naperville Central's baseball team came within 2 runs of a perfect 21-0 romp through the DuPage Valley Conference.

One loss, though, won't tarnish the trophy after a stunning campaign of DVC dominance.

Behind Shane Conlon's 4-hitter with 11 strikeouts, the Redhawks capped a 20-win conference season by beating visiting Glenbard North 4-1 during a steady, wind-driven rain on Thursday.

"That's a great accomplishment," said Redhawks coach Bill Seiple, whose team lost 12-10 to Naperville North on May 3 to come a win shy of matching the program's 21-0 DVC record in 1992.

"The one thing we've had is that we've had different heroes just about every day," Seiple said. "It could be a different guy every day. You talk about 20 wins, I think that probably has as much to do with it as anything else."

Conlon, who improved to 8-0, again showed his dominance by lowering his ERA to 1.13 and increasing his strikeouts to 91, against 6 walks, in 56 innings.

With Naperville Central (29-4, 20-1) managing only 4 hits against Glenbard North (19-14, 11-10) starter Kyle Rachal (5-1) and reliever Will Petrosky, the senior lefty's efforts definitely were needed.

"My arm's been feeling great, so I'm ready to go," said Conlon, referring to his probable start in Wednesday's Class 4A Lockport regional semifinals against the winner of Monday's game between Plainfield South and Benet. "It seems like every day I pitch it's either raining or the wind's blowing in. Not too many guys looked like they wanted to hit. I like pitching on these kind of days."

Marc Mantucca started the scoring for Naperville Central with a solo home run to lead off the second inning. Back-to-back third-inning RBI singles by Conlon and Matt Cmiel boosted the advantage to 3-0, which is where the score stood until a first-and-third double steal in the fifth inning allowed Cmiel to score the Redhawks' fourth run.

Four different players accounted for Glenbard North's hits, including a pair of seventh-inning hits that generated the Panthers' lone run. After Evin Natick ripped a double in the gap, Anthony Keener's two-out single drove him in.

"They got some good pitching, obviously, and we're struggling at the plate a little bit," said Glenbard North coach Rich Smelko, whose team managed 2 runs in three games against the Redhawks. "We're just looking at too many strikes. We want to be more aggressive up there."