Naperville Central’s Gabe Dickerson packed a lot of memories into one three-day stretch.
On Tuesday, the senior right-hander was named the DuPage Valley Conference co-pitcher of the year, along with Neuqua Valley senior Mark Mennecke. He added another milestone Wednesday morning, when he signed to play for North Central College, just hours before the Redhawks defeated Metea Valley in the DuPage Valley Conference Tournament semifinals.
“This has been a great week,” Dickerson said.
He finished it with one of his best outings of the season in Naperville Central’s biggest game yet, the DVC Tournament championship game on Thursday.
Dickerson pitched six innings, scattering six hits, striking out one and walking one, as the Redhawks topped crosstown rival Naperville North 6-3 on their home field.
“Now I think about it, it was a good week for him,” Naperville Central coach Mike Stock said. “He’s earned it. He pitched great today. He makes guys swing the bats and put the ball in play with weak contact. He battles out there.”
UIC recruit Pambos Nicoloudes had two hits, including an RBI double that smacked off the wall in left-center in the bottom of the fourth inning, as the Redhawks (22-8) won the conference’s regular-season and tournament titles for the second time in three years and beat the Huskies (15-10-1) for the fourth time this season.
Naperville Central right-hander Michael Boyce struck out the side in the top of seventh to end the game.
Naperville North actually had more hits — seven, compared to Naperville Central’s five — and couldn’t take advantage of two bases-loaded situations in the final three innings. Tanner Mally, a three-year varsity player, led the Huskies with two hits to increase his career total to 110.
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Naperville North coach Jim Chiappetta credited Dickerson for a strong performance on the mound.
“Their pitcher is crafty and changes speeds and changes arm angles,” Chiappetta said. “If you can change speeds and keep hitters off-balanced, you can be effective. He has a solid defense behind him. It was well done by him.
“We told the team after the game that we have an opportunity for No. 5 against them if we win our first playoff game.”
Indeed, the teams could meet again in the Class 4A Naperville Central Regional championship game on May 27. The second-seeded Redhawks will play 16th-seeded Plainfield East on Wednesday, and sixth-seeded Naperville North will play 10th-seeded Plainfield North on Thursday.
Dickerson (6-2) wasn’t looking that far ahead.
“I just tried to focus on winning this game,” he said. “We needed this game so bad. I’m so happy with the way the team played. I was just focusing on throwing my fastball, change-up and curveball for strikes.”
Naperville Central senior catcher Colin Barczi, a Vanderbilt recruit who was walked three times, said Dickerson is on a roll.
“He’s been lights-out all season,” Barczi said. “He’s got that weird arm action. He just throws everything for strikes and is so hard to hit even though he’s not blowing it by anybody. His curveball was working, and his fastball has everyone guessing. He’s so fun to catch.”
Stock said Dickerson is reliable too.
“Gabe is someone who is never bad, just makes adjustments,” Stock said. “He will throw one behind a hitter’s back but then come right back and paint the outside corner. He’s just low-maintenance. Hitters can’t take a pitch off because everything is close. Naperville North didn’t get good at-bats today.”
Bobby Narang is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.