Waubonsie Valley likes the view from above

Just a few days ago, Waubonsie Valley’s baseball team was on the outside looking in when it came to the hunt for the Upstate Eight Conference Valley Division title.

With their first three-game sweep of rival Neuqua Valley, however, the Warriors suddenly sit alone atop the standings.

Waubonsie Valley claimed 3-2 and 5-3 wins over the Wildcats in Saturday’s doubleheader in Aurora, and in the process they vaulted ahead of Neuqua Valley and South Elgin in the UEC Valley.

Thanks to Metea Valley’s doubleheader sweep of South Elgin, Waubonsie Valley (16-11, 15-7) controls its own destiny with three games remaining against Lake Park and a one-game advantage over the Storm and Lancers in the loss column.

“Now we feel confident we’re playing to the potential we thought we’d play at early in the year,” said Warriors coach Dan Fezzuoglio, whose team overcame an 0-6 start to the season.

Jack Amaro’s RBI double gave Neuqua Valley (17-9-1, 9-9-1) a 1-0 lead in the first game, but Eric Josupait’s run-scoring single tied it in the fifth.

Ryan Vega’s 2-run single put the Warriors ahead 3-1 in the sixth before Jeff Samuel narrowed the gap to 3-2 with an RBI double for the Wildcats in the top of the seventh.

Neuqua Valley courtesy runner Tyler Wieland moved to third on a sacrifice for the first out, and then Andrew Skowronski’s flyout to Warriors center fielder Chris Anderson prompted Wieland to tag up and try to score.

Anderson’s throw was a little up the line to Josupait behind the plate, causing Wieland to dive inside of home plate to avoid the tag. Wieland missed the plate, however, and Josupait tagged him out before he touched it to end the game.

Joey Cuzzone picked up the win with 6 innings of work while the save went to Kyle Limanowski — who also got the save in the second game. James Palasz won Game 2.

“It feels great,” Vega said of the sweep. “This hasn’t been done in a while.”

Anderson’s 2-run single sparked the Warriors to a 3-0 lead in the second game but Nick Iarrobino’s 2-run single pulled the Wildcats within 3-2 in the fourth. Two fifth-inning runs for the Warriors, one driven in on Mike Murphy’s RBI single, made it 5-2 before Ryan O’Keefe’s solo homer sliced the Wildcats’ deficit to 5-3.

After losing twice on only 13 hits, Saturday’s games stood in stark contrast to Thursday’s 13-11 slugfest loss by the Wildcats.

“It seems like we don’t hit unless it’s 70 degrees,” said Neuqua Valley coach Robin Renner. “I thought our pitchers did fine, they kept us in the game. We just didn’t hit quite enough today.”