Naperville Central: June 2009 Archives

--Benet senior pitcher John Boyle and Waubonsie Valley junior third baseman Sam Carius were honorable mentions on the Chicago Sun-Times all-area baseball team.

West Aurora senior outfielder Brady Renner - the son of Robin, Neuqua Valley's head coach - was selected to the second team. Wheaton North's Jack DeAno made the first team.

--From Prep Baseball Report guru Sean Duncan, here's more on the pitcher who eliminated Naperville Central in the supersectional round:

O'Fallon junior right-hander Miles Quintal won't light up any radar guns, but the kid knows how to pitch. He improved to 11-2 with his complete-game victory in the Class 4A third-place game. Quintal already has 22 career wins.

--Our all-city baseball package will be running later this month.

The numbers can be misleading when you're working out of the bullpen. Relievers sometimes take cheap wins and losses they didn't deserve and maybe it all balances out. It depends on whether or not the next pitcher bails you out.

Colin Bates - profiled here in a Sunday column - faced only two Arizona State batters on Sunday in the 10th inning of North Carolina's opening game in the College World Series. The Naperville Central graduate got the first to pop out and then gave up a single down the right-field line before giving way to Brian Moran, who entered with an 88-8 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

Then the Tar Heels unraveled in what became a 5-2 loss. Lee Barfknecht picks up the action in the Omaha World-Herald:

Moran got Arizona State's Jason Kipnis, the Pac-10 player of the year, to fly to right. But North Carolina's Garrett Gore, fighting the sun, dropped it for an error.

But this time, he lifted a pitch to left center that the 15-mph breeze grabbed and slung into the fourth row of the bleachers.

So in the final accounting Bates (4-3) is charged with the loss, and North Carolina is one more loss away from elimination. Throughout the tournament, Adam Lucas of TarHeelBlue.com is providing daily links to College World Series coverage.

Naperville Central has presented its Red/White Awards -- given in honor of former team manager Tom Hoesch -- to the following spring athletes who demonstrated character and hard work:

Hanting Want (badminton)
Jackie Renn (girls soccer)
Stephanie Lynch (softball)
Brittany Fisher (girls track and field)
Emily Wooten (girls water polo)
Ryan Burton (baseball)
Corey Richier (girls gymnastics)
Richard Kalecki (boys track and field)
Frank Bicek (boys tennis)
Dan Dierking (boys volleyball)
Tyler Kelley (boys water polo)

North Carolina reliever Colin Bates (Naperville Central), who's busy preparing for the College World Series, was selected by Oakland on Thursday in the 37th round of the first-year player draft.

With a 2-1 victory over Naperville Central, O'Fallon advances to face St. Rita on Friday in the Class 4A state semifinals at Joliet's Silver Cross Field. New Trier and Cary-Grove will meet on the other side of the bracket. The winners are scheduled to meet Saturday at 7 p.m.

This is the first time since 2004 that an area baseball team did not advance to the state finals.

BLOOMINGTON - Naperville Central just completed its infield practice and Pat Kaminska is warming up in the bullpen. It's sunny here on the campus of Illinois Wesleyan -- and despite earlier weather reports that had storms potentially coming through the area Monday night -- it looks like the Redhawks (24-14) and O'Fallon (30-9) will play for a spot in the state finals.

LOCKPORT -- For a team playing its best baseball of the season, Naperville Central got off to a rough start on Saturday in Lockport. Sophomore starter Dan Ludwig walked the first batter he faced, hit the next and ultimately surrendered three runs in the first inning.

Third baseman Nick Linne's throwing error allowed the game's first run to score. Providence Catholic's Kyle Thomas then crushed an RBI double off the wall in left. Sam Travis next lined a single into left that made it 3-0. It was not the time to be thinking about charter buses to Bloomington.

But Ludwig settled down to throw four consecutive scoreless innings and he left with a 4-3 lead. The lefty didn't have his best stuff, but it was good enough, with the movement to keep the Celtics guessing. It wasn't a matchup they liked.

"I don't think it was any secret (that) we'll hit your fastball, but just keep us off-stride and you can get us out," Providence Catholic coach Mark Smith said. "I think we got a little frustrated there after the first inning. (They) really started mixing it up and we just didn't make the adjustments needed."

As Central coach Bill Seiple said, "What you hope is that pitchers give you a chance to win, and that's what (Ludwig) did."

LOCKPORT -- No matter what, Pat Kaminska was probably going to be the last batter A.J. Woynerowski faced on Saturday in Lockport. As it turned out, Providence Catholic had five fresh arms available for this Class 4A sectional, and it was prepared to use them all.

The plan was working. Woynerowski had pitched a scoreless seventh following another middle reliever, John Ciolkosz, who gave up one unearned run in four innings of hitless ball.

If not for Kaminska's walk-off homer in the eighth inning, perhaps we would be talking about Providence Catholic's fifth straight comeback victory in this bracket. Three times the Celtics (21-16) erased 6-2 deficits, and in the sectional semifinal they scored four runs in the seventh to stun Neuqua Valley.

"Look how we went down," Providence Catholic coach Mark Smith said after a 5-4 loss. "Same thing that got us here -- we fought, we fought, we fought. We gave it everything we had (until) the last out."

LOCKPORT -- Pat Kaminska instantly knew it was gone. The Class 4A Lockport Sectional had reached a breaking point.

As that 2-0 fastball from A.J. Woynerowski disappeared beyond the wall in straightaway center, Central eliminated No. 16 Providence Catholic (21-16), a team that had thrived in similar late-game situations.

Kaminska's walk-off home run in the eighth inning on Saturday closed a 5-4 victory and advanced the Redhawks to Monday's supersectional at Illinois Wesleyan in Bloomington, where they will face O'Fallon.

That leaves Central (24-14) one victory away from a state finals appearance.

Naperville Central coach Bill Seiple was out in Lockport scouting the Neuqua Valley-Providence Catholic sectional semifinal and had an interesting observation as to why Wednesday night's game was so low-scoring, and a theory about why his Redhawks broke through in the middle innings Thursday night.

"This is a very tough place to play, and when you play at 6 p.m., you got that shadow," Seiple said after a 6-2 victory over Lockport. "Neuqua and Providence (both) struggled all night long. And I don't know how (well) they saw the ball out of the pitchers' hands.

"It's not something you want to talk about, because then it gets crazy, people start thinking about it. ... I was concerned about it (but) we adjusted."

Seiple was looking forward to Saturday's first pitch at 10 a.m.

LOCKPORT - To keep advancing in the Class 4A state tournament, Naperville Central was going to have to win a game like this.

After scoring 33 runs during its two regional victories, the Redhawks advanced to the sectional final with an efficient 6-2 victory over host Lockport.

Pat Kaminska threw a complete game to lead No. 7 Central (23-14) into Saturday morning's championship game against No. 16 Providence Catholic (21-15). The senior right-hander allowed just six hits while striking out nine.

A 2-2 game turned in the sixth inning. Marc Mantucca and Bobby Czarnowski hit back-to-back singles to right. Kaminska then smashed a ball deep into the hole that Lockport shortstop Rick Guth knocked down but could not immediately locate in the outfield grass.

Pinch-runner Ryan Burton sprinted from second to score the go-ahead run. Anthony Lopez next bounced an RBI single into right that made it 4-2.

CLASS 4A LOCKPORT SECTIONAL
Tuesday
No. 4 Plainfield North (27-6) vs. No. 5 Neuqua Valley (24-11) at Hinsdale South, 4:30 p.m.

At Lockport
Wednesday
Plainfield North-Neuqua Valley winner vs. No. 16 Providence Catholic (20-15), 6 p.m.

Thursday
No. 3 Lockport (26-11) vs. No. 7 Naperville Central (22-14), 6 p.m.

Saturday
Sectional championship, 10 a.m.