No one had to tell Naperville North who was coming to the mound.
As the number zero resonated heavily inside their heads, Friday represented a third opportunity to take a crack at Naperville Central’s stud junior Ryan Eiermann.
A pair of seniors, Paul Dobravec and Christian Barczi, would make sure the third time would indeed be the charm.
Dobravec’s liner to right-center with two on and nobody out in the seventh provided Naperville North a 6-5, walk-off DuPage Valley Conference victory over its crosstown rivals.
“I saw the infield was in – I was just looking for something to get into the outfield, at least put the ball in play,” said Dobravec, one of two Huskies to record two hits off the TCU-bound Eiermann as they snapped the Redhawks’ 10-game winning streak. “Just make them make mistakes, make them make a play on us and just hope for the best.”
Dobravec’s shot into the gap followed a leadoff single from Colin Rivard, a Brennan Simek bunt single and a botched pickoff attempt that moved each runner up a base.
With Eiermann possibly rattled after failing to cut down Rivard at third, Dobravec pounced on a 0-2 pitch.
While Dobravec gets the headlines for the Huskies (10-11, 8-8) in providing the game-winner, the Valparaiso-bound Barczi may have offered up an even bigger blow.
Fully mindful of the fact Eiermann didn’t allow a run while striking out a combined 25 in a pair of victories over Naperville North last year, Barczi broke the ice with one fateful swing.
Barczi’s bases-clearing triple to right in the third brought Huskies’ starter Matt Pillatsch back to square one while breaking the invincibility Eiermann had previously over the Huskies.
“I was just sitting fastball and got it over into the wind, so that was really cool,” Barczi said of the two-strike, two-out hit. “We just kept fighting and we were so confident. We came out – we wanted to get a series win because all year we haven’t gotten that win on the first game of the series. We knew coming out how big that was – especially against Central, who’s in first place. So that was huge.”
Eiermann (6-1) suffered the first regular-season loss of his career for Naperville Central (19-5, 13-3) after giving up six runs – four earned – on nine hits while fanning eight.
Striking out the first four Huskie hitters he saw, the Redhawks’ ace committed a costly throwing error on a Zach Benaitis bunt, allowing two runs to score during a two-run fourth.
“He wasn’t getting his breaking ball over all day,” Naperville Central coach Mike Stock said of Eiermann. “He was a two-pitch pitcher and a day like (Friday), when the ball’s flying, that’s tough. Both of us had times in which we put the barrel on it and the ball went.
“Their left fielder had trouble with one. Conor (Joyce) had trouble a little bit. So it was a day in which, without the breaking ball, it was going to be tough. But (Eiermann) pitched well enough to win.”
Despite the Redhawks jumping out to a 3-0 lead – thanks to a two-run triple from Connor Gurnik – and eventually reclaiming a 4-3 lead, Pillatsch (4-3) didn’t panic.
The senior left-hander went the distance and kept his team in the game despite being peppered for five runs on 11 hits.
“They jumped out and got the early lead,” said Pillatsch, who struck out five, “but, man, it’s a great day to be a Huskie. That’s for sure.
“Knowing my team had my back when Christian hit that triple to tie the game, that was tremendous turn of events there. Really just let me do my thing on the mound and pitch the Huskie way.”
Gurnik, Jack Hughes and Austin Sherman each had two hits apiece for Naperville Central, which tied the game at 5-5 in the sixth on a Sherman RBI.
Collectively, the effort the Huskies’ offense pieced together to go with Pillatsch battling Eiermann pitch-for-pitch proved to be the right recipe for Naperville North.
“Good job by our kids in many facets,” Naperville North coach Carl Hunckler said. “There were a lot of ups-and-downs in the game, a lot of big plays on both teams, as well as some mistakes. But I was really proud of the way Matt hung in there after being down 3-0.”
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