Baseball: Neidhardt quiets Burlington Central’s bats

Normally McHenry’s shutdown closer, senior left-hander Nathan Neidhardt took the ball for a start as the Warriors faced Burlington Central in a Fox Valley Conference baseball matchup Friday evening.

Showing sharp command of his cutter, Neidhardt filled up the zone. The southpaw didn’t issue a walk until the sixth inning and struck out eight batters in a complete-game effort as the Warriors silenced the Rockets for a 6-0 victory. Neidhardt yielded just two hits as McHenry improved to 20-3-1, 11-1 FVC.

“I had a good team behind my back fielding everything,” Neidhardt said. “I don’t think I would have done it without them. I was throwing strikes, competing and playing hard. Our coach always says to go 100 and good things will happen. My cutter felt really good today.”

Playing its sixth game in the last seven days, McHenry leaned on Neidhardt to spell the team’s pitching staff for the stretch run. The senior, who’s only walked two batters all season, certainly did his part. Neidhardt, who fired 98 pitches in his complete game, struck out the side and worked around a double in the seventh to seal the victory.

“He was throwing strikes with his cutter and his fastball,” McHenry coach Brian Rockweiler said. “He was ahead most of the day. He just throws strikes, fills it up and competes. We’ve been using him as our closer and we wanted to get him a start, especially here at the end of the week. He just competes, fills it up and throws a lot of strikes.”

In fact, Neidhardt fired 70 strikes Friday evening. Tyler Kotwica was the only Burlington Central player to get to him, finishing 2 for 3 with a single and a double while also reaching on an error. The Rockets (8-11-2, 4-7 FVC) put just four runners on base in the entire game.

“We just have to compete better at the plate,” Burlington Central coach Kyle Nelson said. “We’ve been in a rut. We have some guys who’re struggling and we really have to focus on making sure we’re getting the best pitch to hit in the at-bat and putting a good swing on it. I think some of the guys are pressing and trying to do too much.”

McHenry jumped on Burlington Central starter Aidric Arndt in the first inning, putting its first two batters on base before third baseman Kaden Wasniewski blasted a three-run homer over the center-field wall. Wasniewski reached base four times on Friday, smacking a single down the left-field line in the third and drawing a pair of walks.

“My approach is to see fastballs and be on time with them,” said Wasniewski, one of seven Warriors to record a hit. “I don’t let myself get into a two-strike count. If I get the fastball earlier in my first at-bat, then I’m going to look for the slider in the second at-bat since they don’t want to throw it to my barrel twice. I just sit fastball early.”

Neidhardt helped his cause in the fourth, sending a sacrifice fly to center that brought home Bennet Baumann and gave McHenry a 4-0 lead. A one-out double by Jeffry Schwab led to another run in the sixth for the Warriors, who capitalized on a throwing error at short.

McHenry loaded the bases in the seventh, where Wasniewski and Carver Cohn drew walks and Garet Lobbins floated a single into shallow right. A dribble to the mound by Baumann allowed Cohn to cross home plate, giving the Warriors a six-run lead in the game.

McHenry’s marathon run of games will continue Saturday, when the Warriors travel to face Johnsburg, a top team in the Kishwaukee River Conference. McHenry, which has reached the state finals twice in the last four years, could be in the midst of another special season.

“We’re just trying to play every game one at a time,” Rockweiler said. “We’ve been playing pretty well as of late. It seems like we’re getting production from different guys every night. Nate coming out today and pitching really well definitely helped, especially this week.”