Baseball: Naperville North slugs its way past WW South

Sometimes when a scoring opportunity slips away in the first inning, disappointment can linger and not cashing in an early run or two can come back to haunt you.

But that was surely not the case for Naperville North in Thursday's nonconference baseball game at Wheaton Warrenville South.

The Huskies stranded a pair of runners in the opening frame, but quickly fired back with three runs in the second inning and five more in the third on their way to a solid 10-2 defeat of the Tigers (3-4). The visitors banged out eight hits over the second and third innings and sent 11 hitters to the plate in the third while building a commanding early lead.

Leadoff hitter Tanner Mally went 3-for-4 with a walk and scored in the second and the third. The shortstop had a pair of doubles in the game including a 2-RBI shot to the wall in center field in team's 5-run third inning.

"Hits were contagious. [Colin] Lacey got in a few, Cole [Clemens] got a few, even [Zach] Bava got in a few," said Mally, who has already recorded a few multihit games early this spring for the 3-1-1 Huskies. "Hitting with a lead like that you can swing at more pitches and hit a few. I try getting on base early with these guys and I trust them to hit me in. They make it easy when you get on base."

Colin Lacey started Naperville North's second inning with a single and came around to score the game's first run on a throwing error. It was just the beginning for the No. 6 hitter in the lineup, as Lacey finished 3-for-3 with a walk and a run-scoring sacrifice fly. It took a great diving catch by Tigers center fielder Johnny Jensen in the fifth for the hosts to retire Lacey, but even then it was a run-scoring sac fly.

"Today was a team effort. We were hitting the ball good, we were fielding good and we were pitching good," said Lacey, a senior. "All credit to everyone out in the field today. A lot of good balls ... I was just trying to make contact, get my teammates in and get some runs on the board."

While the offense was exploding early, the Huskies were also having a nice day on the mound. Starter Luke Wagner tossed three strong innings and allowed just one run. Freshman Max Steele then made his varsity pitching debut, allowing one run over three innings and striking out six batters, before Zak Sumser closed out the game with a scoreless seventh.

"We're really about being aggressive, putting pressure on teams," Huskies coach Jim Chiappetta said. "I think if you want to be good you have to do that, even if you don't cash in ... as long as you maintain the pressure. You want something other than a zero up on the board. We've been swinging it pretty well, but this was probably the best performance we've had from the kids on the hill for us. Encouraging for sure.

"Luke did a great job setting the tone and Max, being his first outing as a freshman, was pretty impressive. He's got great command and he throws three pitches. We tell all our kids if you can do that, good things happen."

For Wheaton Warrenville South, Nico Olszewski singled and scored in the third inning on a base hit by Jensen. The Tigers then tallied again in the fourth when Casey Farrell singled, Mason Monce followed with a double, and Farrell later came home on a ground out.

Tigers starter Jayce Maranell went 2.2 innings, while relievers Sam Ongstad and Kyle Powelke worked the final 4.1 innings and held the Huskies to two runs.

"We gave them a couple extra outs," Tigers coach John Scherrman said. "We misplayed a couple balls in the outfield and they took advantage. They put together some big hits, some timely hits in the those couple innings. We had the chance early in the first inning. We had the opportunity to score first and we couldn't do it and then they put 8 up before we could wake up again."