Baseball: Naperville North slips past Naperville Central, advances in DVC tournament
The fifth matchup of the season between Naperville North and Naperville Central offered something the first four didn't.
A close baseball game.
A failed suicide squeeze bunt in the bottom of the seventh inning led to an errant rundown throw between third base and home, allowing Naperville North to walk off with Tuesday's 5-4 victory over visiting Naperville Central in the opening round of the DuPage Valley Conference tournament.
It was a far different result than the first four cross-town games decided by at least a 5-run margin and by an average of nearly 9 runs.
The winning run came as a result of a missed bunt by Connor Genovese as Quinn Sheehan raced home with the pitch. Caught in a rundown and on his way back to third, Sheehan took advantage of a throwing miscue and scored to give the Huskies (13-12) their fourth win of the season over Naperville Central (6-23).
Naperville North, which rallied from a 4-0 sixth-inning deficit, advances to play top-seeded Neuqua Valley in the tournament semifinals at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Lisle's Benedictine University. Metea Valley and Waubonsie Valley face each other in the first semifinal.
"We were a little dead in the beginning," said Huskies outfielder Cliff Vickers. "Getting baserunners, that was a huge part. And we just took it from there. We just feed off each other."
Naperville Central took a 4-0 lead in the top of the sixth inning on Nathan Brinker's second RBI single of the game. Redhawks starter Kyle Steele, followed by two relievers in the sixth and seventh inning, cruised through the first five innings while allowing just a hit and a walk.
The Huskies came alive in the bottom of the inning when Mike Bruebach doubled in 2 runs and Vickers followed with an RBI triple. Jacob Miller singled in the tying run.
"We needed to keep that as a 2-run inning and not let them come all the way back," said Redhawks coach Mike Stock. "We needed to put a couple more across and limit the damage."
Naperville Central's 1-0 second-inning lead became 3-0 in the fourth when Dom Gabrielli singled in a run and Dino Biggers went home on a first-and-third double steal.
Genovese, relieving starter Jacob Scharm, notched the win with a 4-pitch top of the seventh. The Huskies loaded the bases with nobody out in the bottom of the seventh when Sheehan walked, Bruebach doubled and Vickers was intentionally walked.
"We produce in spurts and our guys just have that mentality of plugging away," said Huskies coach Jim Chiappetta. "That was perfect timing for us."
Twitter: @kevin_schmit