Neuqua Valley draws with Batavia

After 2½ hours of baseball in a wicked wind and bone-chilling cold, someone deserves to emerge as a winner.

Not this time.

Neuqua Valley and Batavia played to a 2-2 tie Thursday in Naperville before the game was called because of impending darkness after 11 innings. The Upstate Eight Conference crossover game only will be resumed at a later date if the outcome is needed to decide a division champion.

“You just have to let the defense do some work behind you with the wind blowing in like that,” said Batavia starting pitcher Michael Rutas, who threw 9 strong innings. “You can get away with a few mistake pitches, but not too many. I had my fastball working real well with the wind behind it.”

There were no extra-base hits as both lineups struggled to get the ball out of the infield. Batavia (3-6, 1-4) scored both its runs in the third inning on back-to-back RBI singles by Danny Seiton and Sam Burnoski.

Neuqua Valley (7-3, 2-3) threatened with the bases loaded and no outs in the bottom of the third, but the Wildcats managed only 1 run when Nick Oleskowicz scored on a double play.

“I thought our pitchers were amazing, I thought our defense was great, and it was just a tough day to hit,” said Wildcats coach Robin Renner. “The difficult part is we don’t get a win. It’s just nothing.”

The Wildcats sent the game to extra innings with a run in the bottom of the seventh. A close play at second on a stolen base kept the inning alive for Neuqua Valley, which eventually tied it on Andrew Skowronski’s sacrifice fly that drove in courtesy runner Tyler Wieland.

“When you’re hitting you’re always positive about getting runs,” Skowronski said. “This one came out as a tie, but you’ve got to keep the mindset that you’re going to win the game.”

Alan Foresta pitched 5 innings for Neuqua Valley before Nick Blackburn came through with 4 scoreless innings. Max Biedrzycki closed the game with 2 scoreless innings. Steven Patterson kept Neuqua Valley off the scoreboard in the 10th and 11th inning.

Jeff Samuel went 3-for-5 for Neuqua Valley while Jack Amaro and Tanner Giesel had 2 hits apiece. Seiton, Burnoski and Jay Clark each had 2 hits for Batavia.

“I would have liked to have seen better hitting, but I think that goes with the weather,” said Batavia coach Matt Holm. “I hate for (Rutas) to not get the win on that one because he’s been incredible.”