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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Mound Work From Nick Rietz, Charlie Walzer Carries Naperville Central To Semis of Phil Lawler Summer Classic

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Jack Hughes owns the most unique vantage point of anyone on Naperville Central.

From his crouched position, Hughes’ relationships with his pitchers have utmost importance while surveying the rest of the diamond.

As the Redhawks tried to stay alive in the IHSBCA Phil Lawler Summer Classic on Tuesday, Hughes’ work with a pair of seniors – Charlie Walzer and Nick Rietz – was nearly flawless.

Rietz’s ability to keep Fremd – the team who put the Redhawks on the brink of elimination – off balance has them looking for more.

Thanks to a complete game from the senior left-hander, Naperville Central’s 7-3 victory over the Vikings at North Central College moves it into a semifinal against Plainfield South.

Quickly finding a groove that saw him retire 12 of the first 15 Vikings (16-7) he saw, Rietz fanned eight while scattering seven hits.

“This team, a great group of guys behind me,” Rietz said. “I can trust them. I never feel like I have to strike everyone out. Just throwing groundballs, fly balls. Ben Rozeboom making a huge bare hand play over there at first (in the fourth). That’s how we are. We’re all like picking each other up. They make my job easy.”

At the top of the order, Tommy Carlsen and Rozeboom created havoc against three different Fremd pitchers.

They combined to reach base seven times – including combining for five hits and scoring four runs.

The Carlsen-Rozeboom duo continually set the table for Connor Gurnik, Ryan Eiermann and Hughes, a trio that combined for four hits, five RBI and two runs scored.

A four-run third saw eight batters come to bat with Carlsen, Rozeboom, Eiermann and Hughes all recording hits in a five-batter stretch.

“It was amazing,” Rozeboom said. “(They) just hit us in, so we were able to score some runs early on.”

The Redhawks (14-11) got the opportunity to face Fremd for a second time in two days after Walzer’s exploits a few hours earlier.

Walzer tossed a three-hit complete game in the direction of Warren (17-4) as Naperville Central squeezed out a 3-1 victory on Tuesday morning.

After allowing a leadoff triple and single to begin the fourth, Walzer got the next three hitters in succession to reclaim momentum from retiring nine of the first 10 hitters he saw.

“We were fortunate that both of them had all three pitches working,” Hughes said of Rietz and Walzer. “I could call fastball, curveball or change at any time I wanted, which was a big advantage for us. Keep the other team on their toes, so they don’t know what’s coming.”

An inning after Gurnik’s sacrifice fly tied the game at 1-1 as the Redhawks capitalized on two Riley Kocen walks and a sacrifice bunt, they manufactured yet again in the seventh.

Consecutive singles from Jack Baxter and Aaron Szczepanski drove Kocen from the game after six-plus innings, leading to more small ball.

Josh Boomgarden’s sacrifice bunt off Evan Hill eventually gave way to a wild pitch, which scored both Baxter and Szczepanski.

Gurnik’s sacrifice fly snapped a 13-inning scoreless streak for Naperville Central, dating back to Monday’s 1-0, eight-inning loss to Fremd.

“We’re still looking for it offensively and we’ve got to start hitting,” Naperville Central coach Mike Stock said. “If we’re going to do this, I think we’re going to have to hit better one through nine. But it’s a byproduct of summer.

“You don’t get the reps. Kids come out and play here; they play for their other teams. There’s not a lot of tee work, there’s not a lot of short toss and it’s one of those things that you kind of see that with a couple kids.”

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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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