4A: Oswego Sectional, Neuqua and Plainfield North Advance

June 1, 2017

By Drew Locascio
Illinois Scouting Director

Game 1: Neuqua 12, Plainfield East 2 (6 innings)

Neuqua Valley (34-1-1) pounded out 14 hits in their convincing win on Wednesday afternoon. James Gargano, Ryan Wheeler, Jack Rigoni, Trevor Tesmond and Eric Nelson all had multiple hit games for the Wildcats. Rigoni had the biggest day of all going 4-for-4 with two doubles, an RBI and two runs scored.

Neuqua starter, LHP James Kulak, showed once again that he is one of the top uncommitted junior arms in the state. Kulak, sat mostly 87-88 mph throughout but was still touching 89 at times late in the game. Kulak went six innings, scattered three hits, two runs, one earned, struck out seven and walked four.

Game 2: Plainfield North 3, Yorkville 0

Starter Connor Peplow led the Tigers to their third straight shutout win in the playoffs. Peplow, an Illinois State commit, came out of the gates hot, pounding the bottom half of the strike zone with his fastball that sat 90-91 mph. He settled in at 88-90 mph the rest of the way and started to mix in a 79-82 mph slider to keep hitters off balance. Peplow finished the day with a complete-game shutout, scattering three hits, striking out 12 and walking one in his seven innings of work.

Plainfield North (28-9), who had three hits in the game, scored two runs in the bottom of the third inning and one more in the sixth. Alex Steinbach, DJ Donofrio and Anthony Fumagalli collected the lone hits for the Tigers. Donofrio’s and Fumagalli’s were both RBI singles.

Neuqua and Plainfield North matchup on Saturday in Oswego at 11:00 am in the Sectional Final.

For more in-depth notes from the game - and all other games that we cover - visit the Illinois Scout Blog later.