Wheaton North 9, West Aurora 4 (11)

Wednesday's DuPage Valley Conference baseball game between Wheaton North and West Aurora was the longest of the season for both teams, as the outing went 11 innings and lasted almost 3 hours.

After the game was knotted at 4 for four innings, the Falcons erupted for 5 runs in the 11th for a 9-4 win in Aurora.

"'Marathon' is the best way to describe the game," Wheaton North coach Dan Schoessling said. "We had a lot of different contributions there. I don't know how many guys ended up playing, but it was probably more than we've had all year…We took good at-bats there for a few innings, and it finally broke through there in the 11th."

"It ended in an unfortunate way," West Aurora coach John Reeves said. "The score, when you look in the paper is going to look a lot different than the game actually was. It was a pretty tight ballgame up to the very end."

Every player in Wheaton North's lineup got a chance to hit in the 11th inning. Pinch runner Nick Ernst scored the first run from third after Jack Deano was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded. With Tony Fearon and Brett Kirchofer also on base after back-to-back walks, Matt Palackdharry's hit went to the outfield, where a pair of West Aurora outfielders collided when each tried to make the catch.

As a result of that error, all three Wheaton North baserunners scored. Palackdharry followed with the Falcons' fifth run of the inning after Ryan Javech's RBI triple.

"I didn't do anything special, I just put the ball in play," Palackdharry said.

Earlier in the game, the Falcons took a 3-0 lead after 3 innings, thanks to RBI from Javech, Deano and Trey Martin.

West Aurora (6-4, 0-2) tied the game at 3 after 3-run, 2-hit fifth inning, led by Chris Richter's 2-run double.

An RBI double from Aric Dama pushed the Falcons ahead 4-3. But once again, West Aurora responded with the tying run on Brandon Lawrence's RBI single.

West Aurora starter Will Fuentes threw 9 innings before Jesse Pena relieved him and took the loss.

Wheaton North (7-1, 2-0) had Mark Zahery start the game, but he was pulled in the third with a sore elbow. Travis Otto relieved him. Dama picked up the win after he came in the game in the ninth inning.

"I can't say enough about Travis Otto and Aric Dama," Schoessling said. "I thought those guys stepped up for us when we needed them after Mark went down."