Even without the services of senior pitchers Ian Krol and Mike McKinley, Neuqua Valley continues to display an abundance of pitching.
Take Saturday as an example.
Starter Chris Widup and three relievers -- Drew Sutton, Kevin Clendening and Craig Provow -- combined to shut out Naperville Central, 3-0, on eight hits. This comes on the heels of Clendening's shutout victory against West Aurora on Thursday.
"It felt good," Widup said about his start. "I had shoulder surgery last year, so it was important to come back and throw strikes (Saturday). I'm just glad to get back on (the mound) and get a win."
Left fielder Kyle Mener hit a solo home run to left to give Neuqua (3-1) a 2-0 cushion through two.
The Wildcats added a third run in the bottom of the sixth as second baseman Ryan Wagner came around to score on an RBI single from junior right-fielder Joe Ippolito after stealing second and being sacrificed to third on a bunt from junior center fielder Mike Gerber.
Widup gave up six hits and struck out two in four-plus innings to earn the win before giving way to the Neuqua bullpen.
"One thing I thought we could do is play defense and throw strikes, and we did," Neuqua coach Robin Renner said. "I thought we were very lucky that (Central) hit the ball at the right time at the right guys."
Missed opportunities marked the day for the Redhawks.
In three different innings Central (4-2) got their first two men on but couldn't reach home plate.
In the second, Nick Linne and Mike Oles got back-to-back singles, but Central starter Pat Kaminska grounded into a 3-6-1 double play.
In the fifth inning, Kaminska and third baseman Mike Oles got Central going with consecutive singles and were sacrificed to second and third, respectively, before seeing second baseman Mike Soria and center fielder Matt Cmiel leave them stranded after Soria struck out and Cmiel flied out to right.
Finally, left fielder Wesley Webb and shortstop Marc Mantucca began the Central sixth with singles -- only to see Linne take a called third strike and Webb thrown out at third trying to steal.
"I was very proud of Pat. I was very pleased with the way he competed," Redhawks coach Bill Seiple said. "I thought we had some good at-bats. We had some disappointing at-bats. Obviously, it's not a very good thing to take third strikes with men on base."
Kaminska took the tough loss, giving up all three Neuqua runs on six hits and striking out four in 5 1/3 innings.
"You kind of want to get into a game like this I guess once in a while before you get to your conference season. I don't like losing, but ultimately, this (game) is going to be very good for us," Seiple said.
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