Glenbard East’s Vichio shuts out Naperville North

Nick Vichio provided Glenbard East the perfect tonic.

The right-hander was masterful against Naperville North on Saturday morning, scattering 3 hits in a 6-0 shutout in DuPage Valley Conference baseball action.

Naperville North had leadoff singles in both the fifth and sixth innings against Vichio, but Alex Garon and Carson Brown were later erased on the front ends of double plays the Rams turned.

“Those are always nice,” Vichio said of the twin killings. “My changeup was really working well. My last outing (against Wheaton North) was actually better. I had a perfect game into the sixth inning. This (performance) is definitely up there.”

Glenbard East (6-16, 2-9) essentially sealed the contest in Naperville in the fourth inning with four runs against the Huskies.

Yoanny Gonzalez drew a leadoff walk, and things only worsened for Naperville North.

Tyler Berhent delivered Gonzalez with a ringing double, and he later scored on a Mike Hansen single.

Vichio aided his own cause with another run-scoring single, and Joe Kotch did the one thing no manager will ever argue over with a runner on third and one out: his deep flyball scored the last of the Rams’ 4 runs in the inning.

“I was thinking I had to get some runs in,” Berhent said of his extra-base hit, one of three on the morning for Glenbard East. “I wanted to help the team. I had to put the ball in play.”

After the double plays more or less sabotaged the Huskies’ fifth and sixth innings, Vichio stranded a pair of runners in the seventh with a fielder’s choice and routine fly out to right to complete his shutout.

Vichio improved to 3-1 on the season, while Naperville North starter Brendan Herbstritt has the same record after dropping his first decision of the spring.

“We put it together today,” Glenbard East coach Joel Pelland said. “This could help us get on the right track.”

The Rams’ Greg Ludwig scored the final run of the contest when he motored all the way from first to home on an errant pickoff attempt.

The Rams finished with 8 hits as Ludwig and D.J. Spears also had doubles for the squad.

Naperville North (9-6, 5-4) did not have a runner advance past second base.

“(Vichio) overpowered us,” Naperville North coach Carl Hunkler said. “He had control of three pitches. I would like to say we had a bad day hitting. We still have a lot of room for improvement.”