Wheaton North gets the bats going

After a frustrating loss on Tuesday, Wheaton North’s baseball team vented at the plate on Wednesday.

The Falcons hit from the top and especially in the bottom half of their order in an 8-3 DuPage Valley Conference win over visiting West Chicago to take two out of three games from the Wildcats.

Kevin Fahy, Dale Trimble and Ryan Jordan — the fifth-through-seventh hitters in the lineup — combined to go 7-for-10 with a double, 2 homers, 6 runs scored and 5 runs driven in.

“We’ve been struggling lately, we’ve been striking out too much, and today we put the ball in play, which was nice to see,” said Trimble, who went 3-for-3. “We’ve got the capability to hit throughout the lineup, and we were able to turn it on today. Hopefully, we can keep it going.”

Part of Wheaton North’s frustration has been due to a recent rash of injuries. Jake Schieber hurt his shoulder last week against Benet, and Nick Barry suffered a leg injury in Tuesday’s 3-2 loss at West Chicago. In Wednesday’s game shortstop Ed Norris also injured his shoulder.

The Falcons (6-3, 2-1) persevered on Wednesday, however, despite falling behind 1-0 when Dane Sauer led off the game with a home run for the Wildcats (6-6, 1-2). Fahy tied the game with a second-inning home run, and three batters later John Peltz put Wheaton North ahead to stay with a sacrifice fly.

The Falcons created some breathing room in the third inning for complete-game winning pitcher Craig Berberich (2-1) by breaking through for 4 runs. Jeff Schalk, Micah Penn, Trimble and Jordan each had an RBI as Wheaton North burst to a 6-1 lead.

“They swing the bats pretty well,” said West Chicago coach Dan McCarthy. “They can put runs on you in a hurry. We had some opportunities, we hit the ball hard at times. We didn’t play as well as we’re capable of doing, but I’m sure they feel they didn’t play as well as they’re capable of yesterday.”

Jordan’s 2-run homer in the fifth inning put the Falcons ahead 8-1. Hunter Serrato pulled West Chicago within 8-3 in the top of the sixth with his own 2-run home run.

“The bottom half of the lineup really picked us up,” said Falcons coach Dan Schoessling. “They had some big hits for us. If we can get the bottom half of our order hitting like that, we’ll be in good shape.”