Above: Matt Pillatsch connects for his two-run, walk-off homer for Naperville North in its 11-9 victory over Wheaton North on May 18, 2015.
Matt Pillatsch didn’t need any other motivation.
The opportunity to come up and hit with a runner on second in the bottom of the eighth inning of a tie game was motivation enough.
In an instant, Pillatsch’s two-run, walk-off homer in the bottom of the eighth off Wheaton North reliever Connor Morency, giving Naperville North a 11-9 DuPage Valley Conference victory, made everything right again.
“Primarily, I was looking fastball,” Pillatsch said. “But I didn’t want to get fooled on an off-speed pitch. Two-strike hitting, you got to shorten up and just try to put the ball in play.”
Handed a three-run lead in the top of the seventh and tasked to get three outs, Pillatsch surrendered a 9-6 lead as the Falcons pieced together a three-run rally.
After recovering in the seventh to keep the game tied at 9-9 and throwing a 1-2-3 top of the eighth for Naperville North (15-14, 12-7), Pillatsch seized the possibility for redemption.
“I was so motivated,” said Pillatsch, who picked up his fifth victory of the season after blowing the save for starter Mark Khoury. “I needed that.”
For the Huskies, their afternoon started exactly the way it ended—with a two-run homer.
Nate Given’s two-run blast in the bottom of the first off Falcons’ starter Casey Becker immediately staked Khoury to a 2-0 lead.
Given, who immediately proceeded Khoury’s eventual game-winning home run against Wheaton Warrenville South on Friday with an infield single on which he twisted an ankle, collected three hits and three RBIs for the Huskies.
“Really, I’m just sitting on the fastball,” Given said. “I adjust to (Becker’s) off-speed. I got down in the count on one of those at-bats, but I just shortened up my swing.”
Alex Garon, Given, Khoury, Christian Barczi and Steve Dudas all recorded at least two hits apiece for the Huskies, who pounded out 15 hits against three Falcon pitchers.
As part of a three-run second inning for Naperville North, giving it a 5-1 lead in the process, Khoury helped his own cause by knocking in a pair of runs with a two-run triple to center.
The Huskies’ offense gave a trio of pitchers—Khoury, Parker Aquino and Pillatsch—leads of 5-1, 7-4 and 9-6 to work with, but the Falcons got to within one run on three different occasions.
The Falcons fought their way back in large part to a pair of two-run doubles—one from Andrew Hrgich in the sixth that got them to 7-6 and Kevin Wong’s game-tying two-run double off Pillatsch in the seventh.
Khoury, coming off throwing a complete game against Lake Park last Wednesday, went five-plus innings and was charged with five runs while striking out two.
“Very tough (no-decision for Khoury),” Naperville North coach Carl Hunckler said. “We didn’t help him at all. We gave them extra at-bats. We didn’t make catches. We missed (tracking) fly balls. It just wasn’t a good day for the Huskies. The only good thing about it was the ‘W.’”
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