Ludwig, Naperville Central deliver against Stevenson

Dan Ludwig labored on the mound but gutted out a complete-game win against one of the state's top-hitting teams.

Second baseman Matt Soria and sophomore shortstop Nick Ryan turned a huge sixth-inning double play to keep Naperville Central in control.

And then there was Matt Cmiel smacking a 2-run single in the top of the seventh inning to deliver what turned out to be the game-winning hit in the Redhawks' 6-4 victory over Stevenson in Friday's Class 4A state semifinals at Joliet's Silver Cross Field.

Pitching, hitting and defense. This was vintage Naperville Central baseball.

"As coach (Bill) Seiple said, if we play our game and they play their game, we're going to win," said Redhawks designated hitter Marc Mantucca. "We're a very tough team to beat when we're on."

After avenging one of their few losses this season, the Redhawks (37-4) will try to match their 2006 title run when they face St. Rita (32-9) in the state championship game at 5 p.m. today.

Stevenson (34-4) will conclude its first trip to the state tournament in the third-place game. The Patriots will play Huntley (29-10) at 3 p.m. today.

"We just did not play a clean baseball game," said Stevenson coach Paul Mazzuca. "They performed better than we did today. They're moving on, and we're not."

Stevenson took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the first inning when Kyle Ruchim scored on a wild pitch and Erick King drove in Pat Wilson with the first of his two doubles.

Naperville Central, which claimed a 1-0 first-inning lead on Mantucca's RBI double, seized the lead for good in the third inning on an RBI infield single by Nick Linne, a run-scoring fielder's choice from Ryan Walsh and a pinch-hit RBI single by Mason Hallett.

With a 4-2 lead backing him, Ludwig (9-0) settled in. The junior lefty scattered 8 hits, five in the first and seventh innings. Ludwig struck out five, walked one and hit a batter.

"I just had to start making more pitches," Ludwig said. "And that was the adjustment I had to make. Keep the ball down."

Stevenson hit the ball hard throughout, but key hits eluded the Patriots. After scoring 44 runs in their five previous playoff games, they couldn't break through against Ludwig.

"When you've got a good pitcher attacking the strike zone, one through nine has to step up," Ruchim said. "Somebody's going to have to get that big hit, and today we didn't have it."

Cmiel's two-out, 2-run seventh-inning single made it 6-2 and provided some insurance for Ludwig, who needed it in the bottom half of the inning.

Back-to-back one-out hits by Jeff Ferstein and Michael Martin led to an error that scored a run. An RBI fielder's choice by Kory Cutler then narrowed the gap to 6-4.

With the tying run at the plate in Ruchim, who came into the game hitting .468 with 11 homers and 54 RBI, Ludwig coaxed a full-count infield popout to end the game.

"Luddy always likes to make things interesting, it got a little bit crazy at the end," Seiple said. "You know what, Luddy's the man. He's been good every time out."

Naperville Central now turns to senior ace Shane Conlon, who will take an 11-0 record with a 1.21 ERA and 112 strikeouts into the title game against St. Rita - the school Conlon transferred from at the end of last summer.

Last spring Conlon pitched St. Rita into the state title game with a semifinal win over O'Fallon. Tonight he'll try to beat his former teammates.

"It's not going to be about the school and me going there," Conlon said. "It's just another game. It's nothing about getting revenge or anything. I'm friends with those guys. It'll be a fun game, I'll tell you that."