Naperville North coach Carl Hunckler figured his lineup would be better than it was last year, when the Huskies won 17 games.
But if Naperville North wants to win its first DuPage Valley Conference title since 2008, the Huskies will need the continued pitching production of Matt Pillatsch.
Pillatsch, a left-hander, owned two of the Huskies’ six victories coming into play this week. Along with Luke Brennan, Pillatsch has been a bright spot.
He threw 6 1/3 strong innings in a 6-4 victory over Lake Park on April 14 and responded nicely after going 6 1/3 innings in a 7-3 loss to Waubonsie Valley on April 6.
The four runs the Warriors scored in the first inning set the stage for the victory, but Pillatsch permitted Lake Park to plate just one run through the first six innings.
It’s all about concentration.
“I mean, (it was a) big focus, especially with runners on base, you know, every pitch matters,” Pillatsch said. “Just one bad pitch, they could take advantage of it. So I’m just trying to focus every pitch.”
Hunckler was pleased with how Pillatsch navigated possible trouble spots against the Lancers.
Pillatsch just hopes he can keep in the right frame of mind, becoming as strong of a player as the Huskies’ lineups of recent vintage that featured Mariano Long, Nick Solak, Alex Moss, Conner Adamski, Tyler Hogan, Ryan Krainz and Danny Riley.
“I mean, I just think trying to carry that momentum into the next game and continuing that through the season,” he said. “Just trying to focus on every pitch, every out, every inning.”
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Wegner rolling
Offense was not expected to be much of a concern for Naperville Central, which returned Bobby McMillen, Kevin Clifford and Mack Heatherly. All hit at least .361 last year.
But with that trio still trying to find traction, another senior, catcher Justin Wegner, has picked up the slack. Wegner, who committed to Wisconsin-Whitewater last week, leads the Redhawks with his .429 average.
“Justin’s job is to be someone who kind of helps define who we are personality-wise, be our catcher,” Redhawks’ coach Mike Stock said before the season. “We’re hoping to get as much offensive production from him as possible.”
Price point
Nick Price didn’t mince words.
“I know I’m only a junior, but this is the best high school pitching staff I’ve seen all around,” said Price, Waubonsie Valley’s junior catcher. “I mean, teams have their one guy or maybe their two guys, but we have a lot of guys.”
Six pitchers have recorded at least one victory for Wauonsie Valley (10-3), while four have two victories.
Junior lefty Brandon Petersen (2-0) has done a commendable job leading the way with a miniscule 0.36 ERA to go along with 17 strikeouts in 19 2/3 innings.
But the Warriors’ depth goes beyond Petersen as two other juniors, Jason Neville and Jacob Hennessy, and a senior in Preston Everts have helped them overcome the loss of another junior, Danny Miller, to Tommy John surgery.
The trio of Neville, Hennessy and Everts has combined to go 6-3. Neville and Everts are sporting ERAs of 1.11 and 0.78, respectively.
Asked about the fear of being the one to not keep the line moving in the right direction, Everts paid a compliment to his teammates.
“We definitely have a good offensive team,” he said. “We didn’t exactly show it (Saturday in a 3-0 victory over Wheaton Warrenville South). But I definitely have faith in our defense. We pick up the ball real well. So it’s good as a pitcher to know you can throw strikes and count on the people behind you.”
Baumgartner is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.