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Glenbard East turns back Naperville North
Updated: May 6, 2011 10:38PM
What a turn of events from one day to the next.
Fresh off a 15-4 road thumping of Glenbard East on Thursday, Naperville North suffered an 8-4 home loss to the Rams on Friday. Glenbard East seized command early, mounting its biggest lead of the day at 8-0 through 3½ innings. The Rams (9-14-1, 6-7-1 DuPage Valley Conference) got a solo home run from Jon Morris in the first and a two-run homer from Chris Milligan in the third. Left-hander Joe Chovan (3-0) hurled a complete game in which he struck out five and walked just two.
Glenbard East’s one area that did not shine was its defense, which committed four errors.
“Our pitcher threw the ball well and the big thing is, we came out and scored runs,” Glenbard East coach John Walters said. “That’s the bottom line. We hadn’t done that in the series yet. …And we were able to get a lead, build on it, get some stops and before you know it we were up 8-1 and we had a nice, comfortable lead. We were able to finish the game from there.”
Naperville North coach Carl Hunckler wished his team could have continued riding the momentum from its Thursday win in the early stages of Friday’s contest. Instead, the Huskies fell to 9-13 overall and 6-9 in the DVC.
“I think the big thing today was that if we would have scored early, I really personally feel that that would have had an impact on the game because of the fact that we beat them by so much (Thursday),” he surmised.
Hunckler was disappointed to see his Huskies squander multiple promising scoring opportunities, including a bases-loaded situation in the third. Naperville North left 11 runners on base for the game.
“We were in this game, and we were one hit away from adding on,” he said.
Chovan’s mastery on the mound made life tough on the Huskies.
“He’s a good pitcher and I think the key in the game was, he didn’t walk people,” Hunckler said. “So, (it’s) definitely a credit to him, too.”
Naperville North pounded out 11 hits but Glenbard East had 16. Brock Borgeson (0-1) got the start for the Huskies and lasted two-plus innings, yielding five hits and five runs. Four Huskies relievers combined to minimize the damage from that point forward.
Mariano Long (3-for-4) and Jack Braakman (2-for-4 with an RBI) and Dave Considine (2-for-4) led a Naperville North offense that woke up with eight hits and four runs over the final four innings. The Huskies scored once in each of the final four frames.
“We came off hitting the ball real well yesterday,” Long, a junior, said. “Today, we hit the ball hard and in some situations it just didn’t drop. As a team, we didn’t square up the ball like we did yesterday. (The Rams) hit the ball hard and it was their day.”
Naperville North begins a three-game series with Wheaton North on the road Monday.
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