The boys baseball team won a DuPage Valley Conference match against Lake Park High School yesterday, Tuesday, April 14. After nearly losing the lead at the top of the seventh inning, the Huskies were able to close out the final inning on top, 6-4.

With three runs batted in the top of the final inning, the Lancers (5-4, 0-2 DVC) seemed poised to mount a comeback against the Huskies. Holding onto a two-point gap, NNHS (5-6, 2-0 DVC) had led the game since the fourth inning. Luckily for the Huskies, a pop-up was caught high in the midfield, diminishing LPHS’ potential to upset.

Head coach Carl Hunckler was impressed with his team’s ability to close out the night, and he hopes that this win will show his team just how much they can achieve.

“Any time you win, you’re going to gain confidence,” Hunckler said. “We’ve been telling our guys all along that we believe that they are much better than what they believe. So when we get that confidence going, it’s very contagious.”

Adding early to NNHS’ scoreboard was senior Mark Khoury, whose sacrifice fly in the fourth inning put the Huskies up 2-1. Placing them further ahead was senior Chris LaScala, with an RBI double in the fourth, followed by a run scored from a third base error.

However, the most crucial score occurred at the Huskies’ last turn at bat. With LaScala at the plate, a two-run insurance homer was smashed for the Huskies, sealing their lead for the game. Not knowing how significant the run would be at the time, LaScala realized how important it was to widen the score.

“Going up to bat, you’re not expecting to hit one over,” LaScala said. “I just kind of had to do my job, knock somebody and get an insurance run. I had a man on third, one out, we were up 4-1. We needed an insurance run from Matt out there.”

Pitching for the Huskies was junior Matt Pillatsch, who has shown remarkable improvement at the mound, according to Hunckler. Throwing three pitches for strikes, Pillatsch was a pivotal player in holding LPHS’ score at a distance and keeping the Lancers’ hitters off-balance. Also instrumental to the Huskies’ fielding was senior shortstop Christian Robert. His maneuverability and speed helped cut short the Lancers’ time at bat.

The Huskies travel to LPHS today, looking to both sweep their current series and maintain their undefeated status in DVC.