Baseball: Batavia snaps St. Charles North's 11-game win streak
Three outs away from pitching his team to a much-needed victory over St. Charles North, Batavia senior left-handed pitcher Brad Niedzwiedz had to play a waiting game Wednesday night.
Forced to sit out a 27-minute lightning delay, Niedzwiedz returned to record 2 more outs before departing with a runner on second (reached on catcher's interference) due to his 90-pitch limit.
Southpaw reliever Ryan Jerger entered the game and threw 3 pitches, retiring the final batter on a sinking line drive to left fielder Alex Skupa during the Bulldogs' 4-2 DuKane Conference triumph over the North Stars (20-7, 15-2) at Lee Pfund Stadium in Carol Stream.
The win snapped the conference-leading North Stars' winning streak at 11.
"We're happy to tie up the series and it gives us another chance to win a series in this tough conference," said Batavia coach Alex Beckmann.
Niedzwiedz, who improved his record to 6-0, spotted the North Stars a 2-0 lead in the second as he allowed a bunt single to Ryan Thiesse, an infield hit by Andrew Jimenez and Kevin White's RBI single to go along with a double steal attempt - Jimenez scoring while White was thrown out at second.
Batavia (15-9, 9-6) answered with a 4-run third that included 3 North Stars infield errors, a run-producing single by Joey Sartain and Skupa's RBI double.
"It was kind of flip the script from yesterday (St. Charles North won 8-3)," said Beckmann. "They took advantage of our mistakes yesterday and we kind of took advantage of some of theirs today."
The North Stars uncharacteristically committed 4 errors for the contest.
"We've got to stop the inning (third) and we didn't do it," said North Stars coach Todd Genke. "They made more defensive plays than we did tonight. We've got to stop the big inning."
Niedzwiedz did the rest, working out of a 2-on, nobody-out, 4th-inning jam before retiring 8 of the next 10 batters.
"My fastball - I was able to command it today," said Niedzwiedz, who struck out 8 while not issuing a walk. "It always feels good to come up on top. These guys are our rivals. It's a big series - one you always circle on the schedule."
"He looked sharp tonight," Beckmann said of Niedzwiedz. "He was firing on all cylinders. To limit a good team like that to two runs is a big accomplishment.
"He just goes out there every time and competes. That's all we ask of him and he has been looking better and better each time out."
Sophomore Zach Kempe suffered the loss for the North Stars, who will try to start another winning streak Thursday at Batavia.
"We're happy with where we're at and we'll be ready for game three of the series tomorrow," said Genke. "We still have all of our goals ahead of us."