Baseball Game Preview: Naperville North Huskies vs. DeKalb Barbs

Naperville North and DeKalb are an even 5-5 against one another since April of 2023, but likely not for long. The Huskies will host the Barbs at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday. The two teams have allowed few runs on average (Naperville North 3.9, DeKalb 3.8) so any runs scored will be well earned.

On Saturday, Naperville North needed a bit of extra time to put away Downers Grove South. They walked away with an 8-5 victory over the Mustangs. The win made it back-to-back victories for the Huskies.

Brandon Person

Batters Struck Out (Career)

05/17/25 @ Downers Grove South	5
05/02/25 @ Benet Academy	3
05/10/25 @ Glenbard East	1
04/11/25 @ Geneva	1

Brandon Person tossed a big game, pitching seven innings while giving up just two earned (and three unearned) runs off eight hits. The dominant performance also gave him a new career-high in strikeouts (five).

At the plate, Zach Bava was incredible, getting on base in four of his five plate appearances with two runs, one triple, and one stolen base. Naperville North is undefeated when Bava posts two or more runs, but 10-14 otherwise. Another player making a difference was Matt Sonnenschein, who went a perfect 1-for-1 with one triple, one run, and one RBI.

The home team had won the previous six meetings between DeKalb and Neuqua Valley, and DeKalb kept the tradition alive. The Barbs' pitchers stepped up to hand the Wildcats a 10-0 shutout on Wednesday. The Barbs might be getting used to big wins seeing as the team has won ten games by seven runs or more this season.

Naperville North pushed their record up to 15-14 with the win, which was their third straight on the road. Those road victories came thanks in part to their hitting performance across that stretch, as they averaged 7.7 runs over those games. As for DeKalb, their win bumped their record up to 22-10-1.

Naperville North came up short against DeKalb in their previous meeting back in April, falling 5-1. Can the Huskies avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.