Huskies bats come alive for win

Updated: April 6, 2011 3:26PM

On an overcast, breezy, chilly afternoon the Naperville North Huskies bats came to life. Spraying the ball all over the field here Monday, the Huskies whipped Oswego East 18-4 in a nonconference contest.

Tallying 15 runs on nine hits and four errors in the second inning, the Huskies (2-3) broke a 2-2 tie and cruised to the five-inning victory. Sophomore Nick Solak drove in three runs with a double while Marques Winick knocked in a pair with a two-bagger.

Six Huskies scored twice in the frame including Solak, Winick, Mariano Long, Alex Moss, Nick Crejci and Nick Karl. Solak and Long each crossed the plate three times in the game.

"One of our coaches said that we had more hits in that inning than we had in all our games combined this year," said Naperville North coach Carl Hunckler. "Our team came in batting .180, so this was nice to break out."

Though the stanza began with a strikeout, the next 11 hitters reached base. Hit batsmen, singles, doubles, walks and miscues all contributed to the outburst. Long, Conner Adamski (two hits), Tyler Gehr and Karl all picked up RBIs in the inning.

Huskies starter Kevin Goran stayed warm during the inning, tossing on the side. He allowed a run after a leadoff walk and an error when Colin Griffin singled up the middle, but a double play ended the inning.

Solak snared a line drive at his shoes and threw to first to double up Griffin. Garon pitched around an error and walk in the third inning when he fielded a ground ball, fanned a batter and induced a popout.

"It was my first varsity start, so I was feeling a little bit of pressure, but it's really nice when your team gets you 15 runs," Goran said with a smile. "I was able to settle down after that and keep throwing strikes.

"I was able to command all of my pitches, and when you're up by 15 you're able to just throw strikes knowing that a few mistakes won't hurt you too much," added Goran.

North tallied a pair of runs in the top of the first frame when Long launched a home run with Solak (two hits) on board. The Wolves answered with a long ball. Eric Egan went deep after Cody Burton (two hits, one RBI) singled, which tied the score at 2-2.

Yet, the remainder of the game belonged to Goran and the Huskies. Goran finished with six strikeouts while walking two.

"All around it was a good day," Hunckler said. "I thought the kids played hard. We swung the bats well, and Kevin pitched well."

Jake Litkenhus managed to stop the bleeding for the Wolves (2-4). He allowed one hit in the final three innings and whiffed seven.

"It was just a poor effort," said Wolves coach Jim Vera. "It should be unacceptable to them. But Jake came in and did a real nice job. I'm sure he was tired and I'm sure he was cold. He threw like 53, 54 pitches but he did the most with those pitches. I'm encouraged by things like that."

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