Wheaton North earns share of DVC
With the cake in hand, Wheaton North’s baseball team will go for the icing.
The Falcons clinched a share of the DuPage Valley Conference title with Tuesday’s 9-2 win over visiting Glenbard East.
If the Falcons (20-8, 15-5) earn the three-game series sweep over the Rams (11-17, 8-11) with a win on Wednesday, they’ll take the outright title. It’s Wheaton North’s sixth conference title in program history and its third in four years.
“This was one of our goals before the season, to win the DVC,” said Falcons catcher Ryan Jordan. “But we’re not done. We’ve still got to win (Wednesday) because we want the full share of the title.”
Wheaton North didn’t mess around on Tuesday. The first seven batters reached base in the bottom of the first, capped by Jordan’s 2-run single.
The Falcons struck for 7 runs in the first inning, quickly overcoming the 1-0 lead Glenbard East took in the top of the first on Chris Milligan’s RBI single.
In addition to Wheaton North’s 5 hits, a walk and hit batter, the Falcons also took advantage of 2 first-inning errors by the Rams.
“They just got too much, too soon,” said Rams assistant coach Jon Pietras. “It definitely could have been within reach but that inning really hurt us.”
Jordan added another RBI single in the second inning to put the Falcons ahead 8-1, and Luis Velez drove in Glenbard East’s second run with a run-scoring single in the third.
Wheaton North starter Andrew Mamlic (4-0), who struck out six, walked one and scattered 8 hits, and Rams counterpart Nick Vichio both settled down in the middle innings before a fifth-inning groundout by Ryan Kent scored John Peltz with the Falcons’ ninth run.
Reece Butler went 3-for-4 for Wheaton North while Steve Kinney and Milligan each had a pair of hits for the Rams.
If Wheaton North loses Wednesday and Naperville Central beats Glenbard North, the Falcons and Naperville Central will share the DVC title. Any other combination of outcomes and the outright title goes to the Falcons.
“I thought it was key that we gave up that run in the top of the first inning and then just opened it up,” said Falcons coach Dan Schoessling. “The first inning was the big difference for us. Now we’re going to play to win (on Wednesday) and we’ll see what happens.”