Baseball: Naperville North rallies from 4 runs down to win series over Neuqua Valley

For a squad with some key spots filled by freshmen and sophomores, the Naperville North baseball team has already proven this spring they can take a punch or two and will get right back up.

In Thursday's rubber match at rival Neuqua Valley, the Huskies saw a 2-0 lead after four innings turn into a 6-2 deficit, and from there the game went back and forth before Naperville North eventually claimed the contest 8-7 after scoring three times in the top of the seventh.

Senior Tanner Mally delivered a clutch 2-out single to drive home Peyton Seiple with what proved to be the game-winning run, but it was a pair of youngsters who handled the pitching duties Thursday as the visitors won the DVC-opening series.

Freshman starter Max Steele worked four shutout frames before he was knocked out in the fifth. In that six-run outburst in the fifth, the Wildcats took advantage of an infield error and three walks to tally six times with 2 hits, including a 2-run single off the bat of Tommy Kuban.

But Naperville North (6-2-1, 2-1) just kept battling back, scoring three times in the sixth to close to within 6-5, and three more times in the seventh after Neuqua (6-5-1, 1-2) had scored an insurance run to go up 7-5.

"We haven't stopped battling all year," said Steele, whose 2-run double in the sixth helped the Huskies rally. "We've been down in big games and we always find a way to at least make it close, to just to give us a chance to win it at the end like we did today."

Wildcats starter Dan Cercello was tough on the mound, pitching 5.1 innings and was in line for the win before a pair of errors aided Naperville North's comeback in the sixth. The Huskies then pulled the game out by touching reliever Sebastian Guzman for three runs in the seventh, with Andrew Rousonellos' single tying the game at 7-7 and setting the stage for Mally's heroics.

"It's a big win, a huge win," Mally said. "It kind of makes our presence in the DVC ... that we're here to take this thing this year. We're going to keep swinging away, getting our youngens at-bats and letting our veterans do our thing."

Sophomore reliever Yash Desai pitched a scoreless seventh and struck out the last two batters he faced to pick up his first win.

"It was a blast," the right-hander said. "The theme we've had all three games is battle, battle, battle. We're a gritty team and I think it showed today."

Wildcats coach James Thornton knows his team needs to deliver a few knockout blows if it wants to defend its DVC crown this year.

"You can't give games away in the DVC. You expect close games but you've got to be able to put people away. You've got to be able to throw a haymaker when you've got the chance. We just haven't figured out how to throw haymakers yet."