Clendening, Neuqua Valley hold off St. Charles North
Despite issuing a two-out walk to load the bases in the bottom of the sixth inning with his team leading St. Charles North 5-2, Neuqua Valley pitcher Kevin Clendening wasn't about to give the ball to Wildcats coach Robin Renner.
"I started running out of gas but I wasn't going to let them take me out," said Clendening. "I had it. I was going to go all the way."
That's exactly what the senior right-hander did, as he worked his way out of the bases-loaded jam in the sixth and then overcame a leadoff walk in the seventh to retire the next three hitters on flyballs, securing the Wildcats' 5-2 victory over St. Charles North (11-3, 3-2) in Upstate Eight Conference baseball action Monday in St. Charles.
Clendening allowed just 4 hits while walking four and striking out seven as the Wildcats improved to 8-4, 5-2.
"Kevin pitched a great game," said Renner. "He threw a really good game against Lake Park last Wednesday.
"He was out of gas in the sixth and got through it. We knew he was out of gas but we sent him out there anyway to see if he could gut it out - and he did."
The afternoon didn't start so well for Clendening, who was touched for a pair of first-inning runs.
North Stars leadoff man Jake Bergren reached on an infield hit, took second on a groundout and advanced to third on a wild pitch before scoring the game's first run on a throwing error.
John Brodner, who walked and raced to third on the throwing error, came across on an RBI single from Chase Williams to make it 2-0.
At that point, North Stars coach Todd Genke felt confident with one of his aces, senior right-hander Kevin Borst (2-2) on the mound.
"I really thought once we got those two runs early that he (Borst) was going to shut them down and he did," said Genke. "Kevin was outstanding. I think 4 runs were unearned."
Neuqua Valley tied the game with a pair of fourth-inning runs, benefiting from back-to-back-to-back singles from Mike Gerber (2-for-4), Joe Ippolito and Cody Cooper (2-for-3), the last of which drove in Gerber. Ippolito later scored from third on an errant pickoff attempt at first base.
In the fifth, Gerber's RBI single gave the Wildcats their first lead of the game at 3-2 before an infield throwing error led to Neuqua's final 2 runs. It was 1 of 4 St. Charles North errors on the day.
"You can't have as many errors as you have hits, especially against a good team," said Genke, whose team was without the services of senior first baseman/No. 3 hitter Mike Budka (back injury). "And they were throwing errors which we just can't have.
"We didn't defend like we have been. We haven't had 4 errors in a game all year. It was very uncharacteristic but at the same token you've got to pick it up and throw it where it's supposed to go."
Meanwhile, Neuqua showed its resiliency a couple days after being blanked 10-0 in 6 innings by Naperville North and falling behind early Monday.
"To the kids' credit, they got it together and that's hard to do in the middle of a game," said Renner. "We moved the ball just enough to get some runs."