Baseball: Wheaton North’s Williams blanks Tigers, snaps their 4-game winning streak

Wheaton North senior pitcher Jake Williams was in his comfort zone Saturday morning.

With the wind blowing in from center field at a good clip, the right-hander scattered 7 hits while walking 2 and striking out 7 during his complete-game mound effort that helped lead the host Falcons (10-12, 6-5) to a 3-0 victory over DuKane Conference rival Wheaton Warrenville South.

“It definitely made me feel more comfortable,” Williams said of the steady breeze. “I also hit my spots the best I have all season today.”

Williams received plenty of support from his defense, particularly junior shortstop Jacob Johnson and senior second baseman Luke Bellini, who combined for a pair of double plays – including an inning-ending turn in the top of the first.

“That seemed to set a good tone for us for the rest of the game,” said Falcons coach Dan Schoessling. “He (Williams) was outstanding today, and we played real good defense behind him.”

The Falcons grabbed a 1-0 lead in their half of the first.

After Carter Johnson got hit by a pitch to lead off the inning, junior Jacob Kurtz delivered a 2-out RBI double to left.

In the fourth, the Falcons made it 2-0, as Kurtz led off with a walk, stole second, took third on Zander Zielinski’s infield single, and scored on Max Burke’s RBI groundout.

Wheaton North added an insurance run in the fifth off Tigers senior left-hander Drew Eger (6 IP, 2 walks, 6 strikeouts) on Nic Pisciotta’s 2-out RBI single.

“Every run that we scored was hard-earned,” said Schoessling. “Their kid (Eger) threw a good game as well.”

The Tigers (10-11, 7-4) had plenty of scoring opportunities.

In the third, AJ Rogers led off with a single and Jacob Conover coaxed a 2-out walk to put runners on the corners before Williams retired No. 3 hitter Caleb Mease on a fly ball to center.

In the fourth, Clark Jensen led off with a single and Aidan Quartz reached on a 2-out single to put runners on the corners before Williams retired Rogers on a groundball to shortstop Johnson.

WW South’s best scoring chance came in the fifth.

Following Nico Olszewski’s 1-out single and Conover’s walk, a wild pitch advanced the runners to second and third.

Williams, however, worked his way out of trouble, retiring Mease on a pop-up to first baseman Pisciotta before an inning-ending strikeout on an off-speed pitch.

“I knew (Mease) was hunting for that fastball,” said Williams. “Anything inside he was going to blast so I was focusing outside. I threw him a curveball outside.”

“He was really good with guys on base,” Schoessling said of Williams. “He took it up a notch.”

After Blake Snyder reached on a leadoff infield single in the sixth, Williams induced a 4-6-3 double play on the very next pitch.

“They’re a good hitting team, but I have a lot of trust in my fielders,” said Williams. “What worked best for me was just the rivalry. I had so much spit and fire in me to come out and beat this team.”

Olszewski went 2-for-4 for the Tigers, who had their 4-game winning streak snapped.

“Over the last couple weeks, we’ve gotten big hits and today we really didn’t,” said Tigers coach John Scherrman. “We’re a relatively young team, but they’ll keep fighting.

“We get a chance to win the series on Monday.”