Baseball: Roberts leads Waubonsie Valley past Naperville Central, into share of DVC title

Football is not the only sport that can be a game of inches.

And those inches can make the champion.

Waubonsie Valley (16-11, 10-5) fought off a late Naperville Central comeback, thanks in part to a hard-nosed pitching performance from Owen Roberts along with a couple of breaks along the way to nail down a 5-4 victory and share of the DuPage Valley Conference baseball championship Thursday afternoon in Naperville.

Trailing 5-3 after 6 ½ innings, the Redhawks (18-13, 8-7) opened the seventh in promising fashion, as Cooper Page reached second on an infield error.

After Roberts recorded his seventh strikeout of the contest, Michael Page ripped a 2-2 pitch for an RBI double high off the center-field fence, trimming the deficit to 5-4.

“I thought it was gone,” said Roberts.

Page advanced to third on a groundout before Roberts delivered a 1-0 pitch that sailed past the hitter but took a fortuitous bounce off the back wall and caromed to catcher Matthew Piche, keeping the tying run 90 feet away.

On the next pitch, Roberts induced a comebacker grounder for the final out.

“It really is,” Warriors coach Bryan Acevedo said of the inches that separated the game from going into extra innings.

“They had guys on and we were able to limit the damage after some errors and some bloops down the line.”

Roberts, who walked 1 and allowed 6 hits, went the distance to pick up the win.

“I lost track of the pitch count, but I knew I had to take it one batter at a time and get the outs,” he said. “I was a little nervous going 2-0, but he (Grant Umbright) was looking for something good and I had to throw my best pitch.”

“He competes — that’s what he does best,” Acevedo said of his senior right-hander. “He’s got good stuff, but the thing that we love about him is that he’s going to compete and give us a chance to win every time he steps on the mound.”

Roberts supported his own cause at the plate, going 2 for 3 with a first-inning home run and RBI double in the Warriors’ 3-run fourth.

“It’s my first home run of the year,” said Roberts.

Shane Torres and Josh Hung each had RBI hits, while Ryan Lucas went 2 for 4 with a double, as the Warriors swept the 3-game series.

“After losing two to (Naperville) North last week — two 1-run games, it was like, OK, we lost the opportunity to control it ourselves,” said Acevedo. “Let’s do what we need to do and see where the chips fall.

“Luckily, Neuqua got them (North) yesterday.”

The Huskies also earned a share of the DVC title following their 9-7 win over Neuqua Valley Thursday.

Casey Cooperkawa, Michael Page, and Roan Orlanes drove in runs for the Redhawks, while Reid Chamberlain tossed 3 1/3 scoreless innings of relief.

“We had guys in scoring position in the sixth and seventh and we did not get enough,” said Redhawks coach Mike Stock. “We needed to cash in a few more times there.”

The teams will meet at least one more time — in the May 29 Class 4A regional semifinals at Waubonsie Valley.

“We might see them again in the conference tournament next week, too,” said Acevedo.