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player ready...Andrew Churchman’s calm demeanor suits him just fine. Good or bad, the senior right-hander’s mentality for Neuqua Valley doesn’t change.
That came in handy Saturday against Naperville Central.
Churchman pitched five scoreless innings as host Neuqua rolled to its 14th straight victory with an 8-0 DuPage Valley win.
“I felt pretty good the first three innings,” Churchman said. “I got really behind people in the fourth and the fifth. I think that was my biggest problem, just with those two jams that I kind of got into.
“But the first three I was happy with. I was getting ahead of guys and everything.”
Churchman (3-0) didn’t flinch either for Neuqua (14-0, 9-0), stranding five over the course of two innings, including a bases-loaded situation with no outs in the fourth. He scattered two hits and struck out five.
Braden Lindmark and Patrick Boyer both singled for the Redhawks (9-5, 6-3) in the bottom of the fifth before Churchman retired the next three batters.
“I’ve always been pretty good when I get stuck in those situations,” Churchman said. “But it’s always a little unnerving, so I just had to try my best. Keep it calm, make my pitches and just try to get out of the jam.”
Ample run support certainly made things easier.
Neuqua’s top three batters in the order — Ryan Wheeler, Evan Ranneklev and Nick Taylor — combined to go 10-for-12 with five RBIs.
Wheeler finished 4-for-5 with three doubles and scored three times, while Ranneklev drove in a pair of runs.
“It’s great hitting with everyone because every time … the top of the order, bottom of the order, it doesn’t matter,” Wheeler said. “Everyone just turns the order around. It’s nice.”
An inning after Noah Ernst’s solo homer, Ranneklev’s sacrifice fly produced a run that gave the Wildcats a 2-0 lead in the third.
Ranneklev added a bloop RBI single to center in the fourth.
“It’s great,” he said. “It’s just very fun to watch the rest of my teammates and fun to be in there — to know if you get on, someone’s going to hit you in.”
Naperville Central coach Mike Stock credited the job Jack Jopes (1-2) did despite giving up 10 hits and four earned runs in 4 2/3 innings.
The inability to take advantage of offensive opportunities is what stuck with Stock.
“We have work to do,” Stock said. “We’re swinging through strikes and we have to be more competitive at the plate and put (the opposing pitcher) in those spots more often.
“We had the bases loaded, nobody out and we can’t force something to happen. And that did come back to bite us.”
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Blake Baumgartner is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.