Baseball: Naperville North victory over Naperville Central has extra meaning
The level of play typically rises when Naperville North and Naperville Central meet for their annual baseball series.
For the Huskies, the series actually might be helping turn around their entire season.
They sit on the verge of a three-game sweep of the DuPage Valley Conference front-runner after Saturday's 6-4 road victory over Naperville Central.
Naperville North (11-11, 9-8), winners of three straight and six of eight, can push over the .500 mark for the first time this season at the perfect time - with a third win over the Redhawks (19-6, 13-4) on Monday.
"The energy has just been so high up," said Huskies catcher Christian Barczi, who converted two strike-him-out/throw-him-out double plays on Saturday. "At the beginning of the year, we came out lackadaisical, expecting to win almost. And obviously that's not going to work at this level. The last couple days, it's been great playing the rivals."
Other than 1-2-3 innings in the first and seventh, Naperville North kept pressure on the Redhawks the entire game. That included the second inning when starting pitcher Matt Schwartz staked his team to a 2-0 lead with a 2-run single.
Noah Cinzio's solo homer and a run-scoring error tied the game for Naperville Central in the bottom of the second, but the Huskies seized control over the next four innings while building a 6-2 lead.
Schwartz earned the win with 5-plus innings of work, and Jack Whitley notched the save by retiring all four batters he faced.
"The guys have more energy and we're more focused," Schwartz said. "It's been great to see. We've just been playing better."
Whitley and Schwartz drove in third-inning runs and Colin Rivard made it a 5-2 game in the fourth with a squeeze bunt. Barczi added a sixth-inning RBI single.
"The big thing is they believe in themselves," said Huskies coach Carl Hunckler. "We're beating some good teams and they've got some confidence now."
The Redhawks rallied with 2 runs in the bottom of the sixth on a run-scoring double play and Beau Buchanan's infield single. Naperville Central, however, couldn't get any closer than 6-4 after stranding six runners in scoring position.
"We didn't make enough plays, but we battled," said Naperville Central coach Mike Stock. "We were getting production from a couple of different spots, but we didn't get timely hits."
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