Pressure no problem for Lewandowski

Naperville Central baseball coach Mike Stock knows he never has to worry about Ian Lewandowski in the late innings of a tight ballgame.

After all, Lewandowski — a varsity starter in three sports — has been dealing with pressure since the first day of school.

“He has been in pressure situations every part of the year this year, being on the football field, the basketball court and now the baseball diamond,” Stock said. “Ian is our leader. He’s our No. 1. He’s the kid who has the most varsity experience. He’s a catalyst for us.”

The 6-foot-1, 195-pound senior played quarterback for a football team that advanced to the Class 8A semifinals in the fall and spent his winter as a starter on Naperville Central’s basketball team. Now he’s putting up eye-popping statistics in the spring, staking his claim as the unquestioned No. 1 starter on a team that is 12-8 and 6-2 in the DuPage Valley Conference.

In seven starts this season Lewandowski is 4-0 with a minuscule 0.37 ERA and a 0.71 WHIP. He has completed 38 innings, allowing just 21 hits and two runs. In his last outing — a 2-1 loss to Wheaton-Warrenville South on Monday — Lewandowski pitched 8 innings of three-hit ball.

He didn’t factor in the 10-inning decision, but his efforts on the mound kept the Redhawks close until the end.

“He looks at each time on the mound as his most important time out there so far,” Stock said. “At this point right now, he’s our best every time out there. He gives us a chance.”

Not that Stock is surprised.

Lewandowski cracked Naperville Central’s rotation as a sophomore, making a handful of appearances for a team that won the state title. Then he went 8-3 as a junior — often getting mistaken as a senior, according to Stock — teaming with then-senior ace Dan Ludwig to form a dangerous 1-2 punch.

Now he’s the star, using his ability to change speeds and hit the strike zone with staggering consistency to keep batters at bay. He has a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 38-6 on the year, and although his fastball tops out in the mid-80s, Stock said his most dangerous pitch is the changeup that comes in about 10-13 mph slower.

“His fastball looks even harder when batters are worried about the changeup coming,” Stock said. “The fact that he’s near the zone with everything, it puts a lot of pressure on hitters.”

Yes, in four years of dealing with year-round pressure, Lewandowski has learned to apply a little of his own.

“We love the fact that he’s a multisport athlete,” Stock said. “A three-sport varsity athlete, at a school our size, in a conference like ours, is something that should be celebrated.”

Howell finishes unprecedented week:

Ty Howell might be red-hot at the plate these days, but he’s still cool enough to touch.

At least, that is, according to the strange request the senior first baseman received after leading Lisle (23-4, 9-0 Interstate Eight Conference) to yet another win last week.

“One game, some guy on the other team said, ‘I want to touch that dude after I shake his hand,’ ” Lisle coach Pete Meyer said Tuesday. “It’s been quite a year for him.”

Howell put the finishing touches on an unbelievable week Saturday, going 4-for-5 with five RBI and two extra-base hits in blowout wins over Immaculate Conception and Latin. For the week the 5-foot-11, 190-pound Howell was 12-for-19 with 3 home runs — including two in a 12-0 win over Dwight on April 19 — and 17 RBI, leading Lisle to six wins.

He went 4-for-6 with two RBIs in wins over Westmont Monday and Tuesday as Lisle stretched its winning streak to 15 games.

“He’s hitting pretty much anything they throw at him,” Meyer said. “If it’s close to the plate, he’s getting good aluminum on it.”

Howell, who has played on Lisle’s varsity since he was a freshman, is batting .543 on the year with team highs of 42 RBI and 7 home runs. He’s got 25 extra-base hits in 81 at-bats, giving him a start that Meyer said he hasn’t seen his 21 years as a coach at Lisle.

“I knew he was going to put up some numbers, but he’s just been crazy,” Meyer said.

Gerber unhittable in 5 innings:

Even on a pitching staff loaded with terrific arms, David Gerber stood out last week.

Neuqua Valley’s junior righthander no-hit Bartlett in a 12-0, 5-inning win at home on April 19, striking out eight batters without issuing a walk. He faced just one batter over the minimum, with Bartlett’s lone baserunner reaching on a grounder that was misplayed by the Neuqua Valley infield.

“He’s been throwing well, and good things are happening for him,” Neuqua Valley coach Robin Renner said. “He pounded the strike zone. He only got to three balls on one batter the entire game.”

The 6-foot-1, 175-pound Gerber uses a fastball that tops out at 84 mph and mixes in a slider and changeup. He’s 3-0 on the year with one save, an ERA of 0.91 and a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 32-3.

Renner said Gerber had no idea he was tossing a no-hitter until he retired the first batter of the fifth inning.

“He just kind of figured it out,” Renner said. “David is kind of an even-keel guy. He didn’t get overly excited.”

Gerber was slated to start for Neuqua Valley (14-6, 10-2 Upstate Eight Valley) against Metea Valley on Tuesday, but the contest was postponed after the Metea Valley sprinkler system malfunctioned and drenched the field.

He will get the start when the teams play the makeup game at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, though rain is in the forecast.