Admittedly, Christian Barczi may not be the best person to assess the work of Romeoville’s Kyle Massaro.
At 3-for-3 with two RBI, including a solo homer to lead off the second, Barczi had Massaro tracked all day.
But given the problems Naperville North collectively had hitting in scoring position against Massaro on Monday, Barczi’s perspective holds credence.
Behind the complete game he threw in the 14th-seeded Huskies’ direction as the 19th-seeded Spartans won 6-3 in a Class 4A Bolingbrook Regional Quarterfinal.
“It just feels like all year we were on and off with runners in scoring position,” the Valparaiso-bound Barczi said. “Some games, we’d just come through and it would be awesome – the team would really get the momentum going. And in other games, we just couldn’t buy a hit for our lives it’d seem like.
“But (Monday) it was just one of those days unfortunately. If it would’ve happened on Saturday, we would’ve been able to correct it. But, obviously, in this scenario – the one-and-done – you can’t.”
When the pressure was on him most, Massaro was dialed in the most.
Of the 12 strikeouts he recorded, 10 of them came with at least one Huskie in scoring position.
In four different innings, he fanned at least two hitters as the Huskies left 12 runners on base – the same number of hits the Huskies got off him.
“He was really hitting his spots, which was huge,” Barczi said of Massaro. “He hit them up, he hit them outside and that was really good for him. And also he got the curveball going, it seemed like. He wasn’t throwing that a lot without runners on base but once there were. And it was good.”
Massaro struck out the side in the third and the sixth as Naperville North peppered him repeatedly. But the homer to Barczi aside, he didn’t flinch much.
“I was just trying to throw strikes,” Massaro said. “Trust my catcher, trust the pitch call. Do what I can. I was just trying to throw strikes and stay down. Not get anything up. No mistakes.”
The Spartans (6-23) now advance to meet a team the Huskies (16-15) swept in DVC play – third-seeded Naperville Central – on Wednesday.
With that three-game sweep, which saw Naperville North outscore the Redhawks by 14 runs, on the brain – could it have been looking ahead to a fourth postseason meeting since 2009?
“You hate to say it, but I mean, there probably was,” Barczi said. “That’s obviously not the attitude that you can have out here and unfortunately, it didn’t work out.”
Massaro, however, gave them lots to think about when it came to playing the Spartans.
Armed with a two-run lead before even taking the mound, he started out with a perfect bottom of the first for Romeoville.
Staked to a 6-1 lead after a four-run third – capped by a two-run Josh Golibrzuch single – Massaro found himself in trouble right away.
Loading the bases with no outs in the third and with the heart of their order coming up, the Huskies seemed ready to pounce.
Massaro put a quick end to that uprising by fanning Paul Dobravec, Barczi and Jack Whitley in succession.
“Oh, that was it, man. That was the game,” Naperville North coach Carl Hunckler said of the bottom of the third. “That was the game. That was the turning point in the game for both teams. I was proud of the way our kids came back. They pushed for every inning trying to get runs, but that’s an uphill battle. An uphill climb.”
Matt Pillatsch (4-5) started for the Huskies and lasted only 2 1/3 innings as his defense didn’t help him at times in being charged with all six Romeoville runs – four earned.
But the job Matt Schwartz did in trying to give his offense a chance was admirable. In 4 2/3 innings, he struck out six.
The sweep of one of the co-DVC champs, Naperville Central, highlighted a year that saw Naperville North finish over .500 overall and in the DVC.
That’s how Hunckler is going to remember 2016.
“It was a great season,” he said. “We had great leadership from our seniors. We had a lot of fun with these kids. I told them that they exceeded my expectations. We got the one young guy who’s playing Division I baseball. For the sixth or seventh year in a row, we don’t have a Division I pitcher. Based on the schedule we’ve faced, we’re doing pretty good. We’re getting the most out of these kids, so very happy.”
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