Antonio Villanueva’s 3 hits, relief performance help Kaneland hand DeKalb 1st loss

MAPLE PARK – Antonio Villanueva was having a big game at the plate before he came in to pitch for Kaneland in the fifth inning against DeKalb.

Things only got better from there.

Villanueva drew a walk-off walk from reliever Aidan Lange as the Knights came from behind to beat the Barbs 3-2 on Saturday, handing DeKalb its first loss of the year.

“The team played amazing,” Villanueva said. “The defense was amazing. ... The hitting, the energy, everything was on point today.”

The Barbs (11-1-1) were up 2-0 in the bottom of the fifth after Villanueva surrendered a run in the top of the fifth, his first inning of work. Back-to-back two-out doubles by Kanon Baxley and Aiden Whidlin off DeKalb starter Jackson Kees put the Knights (7-2) on the board for the first time.

The Knights tied things up in the sixth off Kees, with a Villanueva single in the inning moving Brady Alstott from first to third. Dylan Borysiewicz plated Alstott on a sacrifice fly to tie things up.

In the seventh, Tom Thill led things off with a single. Kees got the next two outs, but Preston Popovich launched a double. Kees reached 105 pitches at that point and had to leave the game. After an intentional walk to Alstott to load the bases, Lange walked Villanueva as the Knights mugged the senior in celebration.

“I had a feeling they were going to walk Brady for lefty-lefty,” Villanueva said. “I felt he was going to throw a bunch of curveballs at me. So I kind of just sat back. I got ahead 3-1 and I felt really good about it. He threw me a pitch right where I wanted it but it was a foul ball. The last one I tracked upstairs and I was super-excited to get that walk and get us a good win.”

Things started great for Kees and the Barbs. In the bottom of the third, the senior right struck out Borysiewicz, his fourth of the game and 200th of his career. Brodie Farrell followed that with a blast over the fence in left off Kaneland starter Popovich to stake the Barbs to a 1-0 lead.

Kees drove home Braylon Martin in the top of the fifth to push the DeKalb lead to 2-0. Kees allowed 10 hits, struck out nine, and gave up three earned runs in 6⅔ innings.

DeKalb finished the game with four hits. Villanueva allowed just one in his three innings. He also pitched around three walks and struck out one batter.

“We had an unbelievable day of batting practice yesterday,” DeKalb coach Josh Latimer said. “I was really happy. And today we just got too many things up in the air. The wrists got a little loose on us, dropping some barrels and not squaring them up.”

Alstott and Thill had two hits each for the Knights in addition to the three by Villanueva.

“He was locked in,” Kaneland coach Brian Aversa said. “We liked what Tony’s been doing lately. He’s going to continue to do good things for us this year. It was great to see that on the mound and at the plate.”

Even with the early lead for DeKalb, Latimer said he knew the Knights were going to make a rally in a game between two rivals, one of which was undefeated.

With DuPage Valley Conference play set to start for DeKalb on Monday, Latimer said the loss was unfortunate, but also is a lesson for the Barbs.

“Unfortunately, this is probably the best thing that could have happened to us,” Latimer said. “It knocks the boys down just a little bit and lets them realize they are human. Other teams are willing to play them and play them very hard. Now we go out and start a new streak with Naperville North on Monday.”

DeKalb and Kees had knocked off the Knights each of the last two seasons. This year, Kaneland gets some revenge in handing DeKalb its first loss of 2025 - although the Barbs tied Boylan 6-6 on Wednesday.

Aversa said it was a gritty game for both teams and that it was good for the Knights to come back and get a win on their home field. The Knights are set to open a three-game Interstate 8 Conference series against Ottawa on Monday.

“This is great for us, propels us into conference next week,” Aversa said. “But it’s also just another game. We can’t put too much stock in this one game. We have to know there’s more ahead of us. Beating a good team is what we want to do, and when we do it we’re going to celebrate it. But it’s not the end-all, be-all. That’s not the end goal, beating DeKalb.”