Prep Baseball Report

Naperville Central walks off with win against Naperville North



By Steve Nielsen
Scouting Director – Illinois/Wisconsin

AURORA – In the Metea Valley Regional, Naperville Central squeeked by Naperville North 2-1 in dramatic fashion to advance to the Regional Finals.

Scoring was tough to come by as both starting pitchers were sharp early and the defensive play was on point. Central’s Pat Maloney pounded the strike zone and let his infield work getting 12 ground ball outs including two double play balls that killed North rallies. 

North’s Kurt Krejci was up to the task of matching Maloney keeping the Central hitter off-balance with a plethora of off-speed pitches, keeping the Redhawk hitters out on their front foot for most of the day.

The North Huskies struck first in the fourth. Ryan Krainz got it started with a double to the right center gap which at first glance appeared to be caught, much to the dismay of the Coach Stock the umpiring crew ruled it a double. Two batters latter junior Alex Garon got a the big RBI single up the middle for the 1-0 lead. Maloney then induced a 6-4-3 double play to get out of the inning.

The Redhawk offense finally made an adjustment to Krejci’s slow-paced arsenal in the sixth. With two outs and Jack Alberts in scoring position, senior Luke Daley came up clutch with the clean single to left.

After Maloney worked a clean and quick 1-2-3 seventh, the stage was set for the Redhawk heroics. Michael Kolzow led off the inning with a single and Dan Dolehide sacrificed him to second. After a groundout to short, leadoff hitter Jason Wegner was down to his last strike when he ripped an 0-2 single to right scoring Kolzow without a throw and a Naperville Central dogpile on the infield.

Naperville Central will advance to the Metea Valley Regional Finals on Saturday to take on the winner Thursday’s Metea Valley vs. Neuqua Valley matchup. 

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