Baseball notes: Waubonsie Valley starts strong in DVC title defense; St. Charles North’s pitching plan works out

Heading into this week’s baseball action, Waubonsie Valley remained as the lone unbeaten DuPage Valley Conference team following last week’s 3-game sweep of Metea Valley.

Despite Monday’s 12-10 DVC loss to DeKalb, the Warriors (7-6, 3-1), led by Owen Roberts and Hiroshy Wong, are determined on repeating as conference champions following last season’s 11-4 first-place finish.

Roberts, who batted .452 with 4 home runs and 31 RBI a year ago, leads the team with a .436 batting average and team-high 11 runs scored.

The Indiana State recruit also excels on the mound, where he sported a 10-0 record with 73 strikeouts in 57 1/3 innings pitched last season.

Roberts, who owns a 0.00 ERA this spring, has thrown 18 innings while compiling 33 strikeouts against just 5 walks.

Earlier this month, Roberts tossed a no-hitter during the Warriors’ 3-0 nonconference victory over Batavia, striking out 11 while walking 1.

“Owen has been extremely dominant on the mound,” said Warriors coach Bryan Acevedo. “Heading into his start against Metea Valley (last week), he had not surrendered a hit in his last 12 innings. He is special.”

Roberts, who threw a no-hitter during last year’s Class 4A sectional semifinal victory against Plainfield North, tossed the 18th no-hitter in school history on April 10.

“He is only the third player in school history to throw multiple no-hitters (joining former MLB pitcher Michael Bowden — 2004 and 2005, and Mike Ferguson — 1987 and 1989),” said the coach.

“Offensively, he has been really good, hitting .436 and reaching base at a .542 clip. There is still more in the tank as his power numbers are a little down, so we expect him to get even better as the season goes on.”

Wong (.395, 11 RBI, 10 runs scored) and sophomore catcher Shane Torres (.306) have supported the Warriors’ offense.

“Shane has been great behind the plate and currently leads our team in extra-base hits,” said Acevedo.

On the mound, UW-Whitewater commit Seth Gilliland helps form a strong 1-2 pitching duo for the Warriors. Gilliland owns a 1.82 ERA with 22 strikeouts and 5 walks in 19 innings.

Following this week’s series with DeKalb, Waubonsie faces Neuqua Valley next week.

“One area we are looking to improve on is playing complete games,” said the coach. “We have been able to put together two parts of the game often but have struggled to find all three in the same game consistently.”

North Stars’ plan works perfectly

There are times where St. Charles North coach Todd Genke feels more like a bean counter — or more appropriately, a pitch counter.

Last Saturday, Genke sent junior Keaton Reinke to the mound against previously unbeaten Libertyville knowing he would likely make an early-inning change — with the North Stars scheduled to face Batavia in a 3-game series Monday-Wednesday.

“It’s unfortunate but Keaton could throw no more than 30 pitches (vs. Libertyville),” said Genke. “People talk about pitch counts. It’s like being the basketball coach and your best shooter can only take 10 shots — or you’re the football coach and your top running back can only get 10 carries.

“That’s how it feels.”

The plan worked to perfection, as Reinke retired 5 of the 6 batters he faced before giving way to junior lefty Emerson Miller, who went the rest of the way in North’s 3-0 win.

On Monday, Reinke returned to the bump and threw 6 innings of 3-hit ball with 10 strikeouts in North’s 7-2 DuKane Conference win over Batavia.

Desai delivering for Naperville North

Naperville North (5-8, 1-3) opened its DVC season with a 10-0 win over DeKalb on April 14 before losing the final 2 games of the 3-game series by scores of 11-1 and 5-1.

Senior pitcher Yash Desai entered the week with a 4-0 mark following last week’s 2-hit, 7-strikeout performance against the Barbs.

“Yash has been a horse for us to start the season,” said Huskies coach Jim Chiappetta. “He has given us quality starts in each of his outings, which has put him his team in a position to win those games.”

Fellow senior Matt Sonnenschein tossed 6 2/3 innings of 1-run ball with 9 strikeouts during a no-decision against DeKalb.

“Our pitching has been strong to start the season,” said the coach. “We have a team ERA of 2.33, with Max Steele, Lawton Close, joining Desai and Sonnenschein, as a few of the key contributors.”

At the plate, senior catcher Zach Bava continues to inch up the ladder in the Huskies’ record books.

Bava, an Illinois State commit and 3-time all-DVC pick, passed MLB player Nick Solak and tied Brian White for second on the school’s career base hit list this past weekend against Plainfield North.

Last week, he passed Western Michigan standout Tanner Mally and Chiappetta on the all-time hits list.

“It’s great — I love it,” Chiappetta said about Bava passing him. “At the end of the day, it’s what you want as a coach. So many of these kids put in the work to be the best version of themselves — and Zach works harder than anyone.

“It will be fun watching him continue to rise on that list as the season moves along.”

Bava, who entered the season 21 hits shy of the school record (125), entered Tuesday’s game just 9 hits away from becoming the Huskies’ all-time leader.

Reeder’s hard work pays off

Naperville Central (9-6, 3-1) took 2 of 3 games from Neuqua Valley top start the DVC season last week before blanking Naperville North 2-0 Monday afternoon behind a 2-hit complete game from southpaw pitcher Chase Reeder.

“It’s just great to see all of his hard work pay off,” said Redhawks coach Mike Stock. “He had a terrible injury in August during a summer ball game and needed surgery on his hamstring.

“He was laid up until around New Year’s when he could start doing some things. He has been working hard, hard, hard.”

Reeder, an Illinois State commit, enjoyed his longest outing of the young season during a 93-pitch outing against the Huskies.

“I feel great,” he said. “The injury happened when I was playing first base. I slipped on some wet turf and tore it (hamstring) right off. I did some rehabbing and came back to winter practice with the team.”