Naperville Central's turn to shine in DVC

Naperville Central's dominant five-inning win over Wheaton Warrenville South showed again why anything's possible in this season's DuPage Valley Conference baseball race.

The Redhawks rolled to Thursday's 12-2 win over WW South to knock the visiting Tigers a game behind Glenbard North atop the standings.

Naperville Central (11-12, 5-8), however, knew better than to celebrate too much ... especially at the start of a three-game series with the Tigers (11-13, 9-4). The ups and downs of the campaign have affected the Redhawks as much as any team in the conference.

"We attacked the ball today and were extremely aggressive at the plate," said Redhawks designated hitter Billy Oliver. "But it's just one game. We've still got two more games to play against a really good team, but we're feeling good after this one. I feel like we're also a tough team to beat, so we'll see what happens."

After WW South scored an unearned run in the top of the first, Naperville Central seized command with a 6-run bottom of the inning. Bobby McMillen started the barrage with a 3-run homer and, after the Redhawks batted around, Connor Gurnik added a 2-run double.

Two runs followed in the second inning before Naperville Central moved ahead 11-1 on Oliver's 2-run double in the third inning. Justin Kelly kept the game going with a fifth-inning RBI single for the Tigers, but Oliver ended the game in the bottom of the fifth with an single that scored McMillen.

"We've seen everybody now and we know Wheaton South is good," said Redhawks coach Mike Stock. "It's just a matter of whose kids come out and perform each day."

With the wind blowing out, Naperville Central starter Glenn Kozlowski picked a good day to strike out nine, including five looking. He allowed only 3 hits and overcame four Naperville Central errors.

Gurnik and Oliver had 3 hits apiece for Naperville Central. Leadoff hitter Spiro Pavlou scored both runs for the Tigers.

"They were finding the gaps and we weren't," said Tigers coach Tim Brylka. "I thought we had a couple of hard-hit balls right at guys, but five strikeouts looking is disappointing. You're not competing if you're standing there with the bat on your shoulder."

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