Wheaton North holds off Redhawks

Updated: May 6, 2011 10:19PM

Wheaton North picked up where it left off the day before, riding a big first inning to an 11-9 DuPage Valley Conference win over visiting Naperville Central on Friday.

After rallying for a 4-2 win off Naperville Central ace Dan Ludwig on Thursday, the Falcons kept the pressure going with the bats courtesy of a seven-run first.

The first six batters to face Redhawk starter Kody Willis (1-2) all reached base safely, highlighted by a three-run homer from Jeff Schalk, as the Falcons sent 11 men to the plate.

Right-fielder Jake Schieber  picked up the baton from Schalk with a pair of home runs, the second of which – a three-run shot to right in the third off Naperville Central reliever Jake DeVoy – gave Wheaton North (15-6-1, 10-4 DuPage Valley) a commanding 11-0 lead.

“I was seeing fastballs really good today and that’s what I was jumping on,” said Schieber, who went 3-for-4 with four RBI and three runs scored. “Recently, I’ve been waiting and missing on the fastballs. (Friday), I was really seeing them and jumping on them.”

But Naperville Central (15-9, 10-5) wasn’t done.

Three outs away from an early start to its weekend, the Redhawks slowly went to work on offense by scratching across a run in the fourth to keep the game alive.

Three more runs off Wheaton North starter Craig Berberich would follow in the fifth, highlighted by a two-run triple from Conor Philbin as the Redhawks sent eight men to the plate before stranding men on first and second.

The Redhawks cut into the deficit even more by getting their first five guys on safely off Falcons reliever Ed Norris, who replaced Berberich at the start of the seventh, and were aided by a two-run error from Falcon shortstop Dan Brake.

With Naperville Central within three runs and Ross Murphy at the plate with just one out, Eric Scandora relieved Norris for Wheaton North on a 3-2 count and walked Murphy before surrendering Philbin’s fourth hit of the game, a RBI single to left, setting the stage for a controversial finish.

The Redhawks had the bases loaded with one out and Ian Lewandowski at the plate. On a 1-0 pitch from Falcons’ reliever Eric Scandora, Lewandowski grounded a ball to John Peltz at third base, who tagged third to retire Murphy and fired over to first to nail Lewandowski on a close call to end the game.

“We started off with the bottom of the order and we came up to the top. We had the bases loaded, our three-hitter up, which is what we want. He’s a great hitter,” said Philbin, who went 4-for-5 with four RBI. “Sometimes it doesn’t happen. Like (Naperville Central coach Bill) Seiple said, ‘The umpire doesn’t win or lose one game.’ We had a great comeback and that’s the spot you want to be in.” 

“We’re fine. It’s a long haul, 21 (DVC) games,” Seiple said of the conference race that has Wheaton North now a half-game ahead of Naperville Central. “We want to compete all 21. If there were times where we weren’t, I’d be like ‘rocking-and-rolling.’ But I like these guys. They’re playing hard for us and that’s all you can ask them.”

© 2012 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed without permission. For more information about reprints and permissions, visit www.suntimesreprints.com. To order a reprint of this article, click here.