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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Pitching Took Center Stage Around Naperville Prep Baseball Fields in 2015

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Metea Valley senior Jack Szott delivers during Neuqua Valley’s 2-1 victory over the Mustangs on April 7, 2015.
Metea Valley senior Jack Szott delivers during Neuqua Valley’s 2-1 victory over the Mustangs on April 7, 2015.

A wide view shows a pair of 25-win seasons and two regional titles highlight some of what Naperville-area teams accomplished this spring.

But when taking a closer look, it doesn’t take long to see what dominated play around the Naperville area in 2015.

Pitching.

Four schools, Naperville Central, Metea Valley, Waubonsie Valley and Benet, had at least one pitcher post an ERA of 1.72 or better while throwing at least 50 innings.

Naperville Central sophomore left-hander Ryan Eiermann and Metea Valley senior right-hander Jack Szott battled back-and-forth all season for the strikeout lead by an area pitcher.

The Western Michigan-bound Szott struck out 117 for a 20-win Metea Valley team while compiling a 1.08 ERA in 71 1/3 innings.

Szott leaves Metea Valley as the program’s single-season and career strikeout leader with 117 and 157, respectively.

The Mustangs’ offense aided Szott and the rest of the staff behind Jacob Petersen and Andy See, who hit .447 and .410, respectively.

Meanwhile, Eiermann, who committed to TCU last month, finished his first year for Naperville Central at 8-1 with a 0.56 ERA and 114 strikeouts in 75 2/3 innings.

His 114 strikeouts place him third on the Redhawks’ single-season strikeout list since 1982 behind only Shane Conlon’s 122 from 2010 and Mike Deese’s 115 from 1986.

Senior right-hander Glenn Kozlowski joined Eiermann to give Redhawks’ coach Mike Stock a solid top two to lead the rotation.

Kozlowski posted an 8-2 record with a 1.44 ERA and 50 strikeouts in 63 1/3 innings to help aid an offense that saw seniors Billy Oliver, Justin Wegner and Bobby McMillen all hit at least .361.

Eiermann became the second Naperville Central pitcher in as many years to beat Naperville North twice in the same season, joining Pat Maloney from 2014.

The Huskies finished 17-16 for a second straight year and still have had only one 20-win season, a 21-13 mark in 2012, since tying the program record for victories with 30 in 2010.

Seniors Alex Garon, Sam Siebers and Mark Khoury paced the offense as the trio all hit at least .330 while Luke Brennan and Matt Pillatsch combined to win 12 games from the mound.

Elsewhere, Waubonsie Valley finished Bryan Acevedo’s first year at 28-6, with the 28 victories marking the second-most in program history.

The contributions from two juniors, Brandon Petersen and Jason Neville, were big reasons for the Warriors’ success in 2015.

Acevedo tabbed Petersen, a left-hander, as the staff ace coming into the year and Petersen led a deep staff with a 6-1 record to go with a 1.09 ERA and 59 strikeouts in 58 innings.

Petersen’s running mate, Neville, tied for the team lead in wins with his 7-2 record while striking out 53 and compiling a 1.34 ERA in his 57 2/3 innings.

At 28-6, Waubonsie Valley led the six Naperville-area schools in victories, with Neuqua Valley not far behind at 25-11.

Robin Renner’s Wildcats won 25 games for the fifth time in the last seven years, but a 7-7 finish to the season after a 18-4 start ended hopes of grabbing a fifth straight regional title.

Seniors Matt Gould, Alex DiFranco and Tyler Tesmond all hit at least .365 for Neuqua Valley.

Along with Naperville Central (19-17) claiming its first regional since 2012 despite not winning 20 games for the first time since 2007, Benet (20-17) also ended its regional title drought.

With senior left-hander Conor Hayes leading the way for the staff, the Redwings finally broke through after regional final losses in 2013 and 2014 to grab the program’s first regional since 2008.

Hayes ended the year with a team-high six wins and a 1.72 ERA to go along with 50 strikeouts in 53 innings.

For the second straight year, the Naperville area failed to come away with a sectional title.

From Waubonsie Valley in 2005 to Neuqua Valley in 2013, the Naperville area laid claim to a sectional title eight times in that nine-year stretch.

Naperville Central and Neuqua Valley combined for seven of the eight sectional titles during that span.

With the three District 204 schools joining the two Naperville schools in the DuPage Valley Conference, the hope for another sectional title to come back to Naperville begins anew come March 2016.

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Blake Baumgartner
Blake Baumgartner
Raised in Naperville, Blake Baumgartner is a 2001 Naperville Central alumnus and a 2005 graduate of Michigan State's School of Journalism. Since March 2010, he has covered football, boys' basketball and baseball for both The Naperville Sun and Positively Naperville. Follow him on Twitter @BFBaumgartner.

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