Baseball: Reeder’s gem lifts Naperville Central over Naperville North
Senior left-hander Chase Reeder pitched a 2-hit complete game and received just enough offensive support, as Naperville Central’s baseball team opened its 3-game series with a 2-0 road victory over DuPage Valley Conference rival Naperville North Monday afternoon.
Reeder, an Illinois State commit, retired the first 9 batters he faced before allowing a leadoff single to fellow Redbirds commit Zach Bava in the fourth inning. He quickly got out of the inning with a 4-6-3 double play and grounder to second baseman Casey Cooperkawa for the third out.
After facing the minimum 15 batters through the first 5 frames, Reeder ran into some trouble in the sixth.
Trailing 2-0, Huskies first baseman Lawton Close led off with a single, and with one out, Chuck LaScala reached on an infield throwing error, putting runners on first and third for Bava.
That prompted a meeting at the mound between Redhawks coach Mike Stock and Reeder.
“We’re in a situation right there,” said Stock. “Chase had a plan about how he wanted to attack Zach (Bava).”
Reeder induced Bava to hit a groundball to shortstop Cooper Page, who combined with Cooperkawa and first baseman Troy Kashul for the inning-ending double play.
“We talked about what pitch to go after him with,” said Reeder. “Fortunately, he powered it right to our shortstop.”
After issuing back-to-back walks with two outs in the seventh, Reeder sealed the deal with a groundball to third baseman Grant Umbright.
“Chase has been a varsity player for three years now,” said Stock. “He’s one of our captains. It was fun to see him battle out there and have the success in the manner that he did.
“He had command of everything — it was great.”
Kashul got the Redhawks on the board in the fourth when he belted a one-out solo home run over the left-field fence.
“It felt really good,” said Kashul. “It’s my first one of the year. I’ve had a few off the fence this year, but I finally got one.
“It was an inside curveball. I let it get deep on me. You’ve got to sit back on the breaking ball — that’s real important.”
The Redhawks (9-6, 3-1) added to their lead in the fifth when Umbright’s RBI grounder drove in Cooper Page, who singled to start the inning before advancing to third on an infield error — 1 of 3 Huskies miscues on the day.
“We’ve been scuffling with defense,” said Huskies coach Jim Chiappetta. “Our kids know what the blueprint is. We’ve got to play a cleaner game, and we’ve got to manufacture some runs.”
That included a golden opportunity in the sixth.
“I’ll take that guy (Bava) at the plate any day of the week,” said Chiappetta. “Sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn’t. That’s what you love and hate about baseball.”
Right-hander Yash Desai suffered the tough-luck loss for the Huskies (5-8, 1-3), allowing 3 hits with a pair of strikeouts while going the distance.
The series resumes Tuesday at Naperville Central.
“It’s not like football where you’ve got to wait a week — we’ll get back to it in less than 24 hours,” said Chiappetta.