Giannini gets key outs to lift Huskies

The game could have turned in either direction for Naperville North during a perilous top of the fourth inning.

When pitcher Nick Giannini closed it out with a strikeout, however, everything began turning the Huskies' way.

Breaking open the score in the bottom of the sixth, Naperville North rolled to Wednesday's 12-2 baseball victory over visiting Glenbard West.

"That was a big inning for us," said Giannini, who earned the win with 5 1/3 strong innings. "It's always big to shut the other team down after you grab the lead."

Naperville North (4-1) indeed grabbed a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the third on an RBI double by Devon Moon, a sacrifice by Alex Helms and a wild pitch.

Glenbard West (2-3) set itself up for a big inning in its next at bat, scoring a run on Chris Kavanaugh's bunt single and putting runners on second and third with no outs.

Helms, though, fielded a grounder at third and threw out a runner at the plate for the first out. Then catcher David McWilliams threw out a runner trying to steal second and Giannini struck out the next batter swinging to strand a runner at third.

Naperville North may have allowed the 1 run to make it a 3-1 game, but the damage could have been far worse.

"Initially it was poor execution, and then we made up for it as the game progressed," said Huskies coach Carl Hunckler. "Dave caught the guy stealing, Nick struck out another guy. I mean, that was huge for us. That was a momentum changer. We had just talked about shutting down the inning after taking the lead, so that was huge."

Glenbard West overcame the tough frame by pulling within 3-2 in the fifth on Drew Blane's RBI single. Naperville North built a 5-2 lead in the bottom of the inning on consecutive RBI doubles by Danny Sagen and Moon.

The Huskies ended the game in the sixth by scoring 7 runs on only 1 hit. They coaxed 7 walks, including six straight, and scored the winning runs on a 2-run hit by Jack Krecji.

"We've got to throw strikes and make teams beat us, we can't beat ourselves," said Glenbard West coach Brian Wojtun. "We've definitely been hot and cold, there's no question about it. But it all starts on the mound.

"We've got to do the little things like play good defense and throw strikes on the mound," he said. "But we're young, and with time I think we'll get better and better."

BOX SCORE

Naperville North 12, Glenbard West 2

Glenbard West 000 110 -2-4-0

Naperville North 003 027 -12-8-3

2B: NN: Moon 2, Sagen, Laskowsky

WP: Giannini (1-0) LP: Caspers (0-1).