Noah Neece was struggling at the plate, but he was far from alone.

The first four batters in the Sycamore lineup struck out a combined 12 times in 20 at-bats.

But Neece broke out of the slump in a big way, homering in the bottom of the 10th inning, giving Sycamore a 6-5 win over Kaneland in the first game of a three-game Interstate 8 Conference series on Tuesday.

“I was having a bad day at the plate, 0 for 4,” said Neece, who struck out three times and popped up to second in his first four at-bats. “I was just thinking, keep it simple. ... I was just waiting for a fastball. Felt it coming. Just boom. Felt great.”

The top of the order for the Spartans (8-7 overall, 6-1 conference) was one for their first 13 with seven strikeouts as the Knights (6-8-1, 4-2) built an early four-run lead off Sycamore ace Jackson Macdonald.

With one out in the bottom of the seventh and the Knights up 4-2, No. 2 hitter Chace Kuhns singled off reliever Jackson Valentini, who retired the first four batters he faced, struck out two of them, and hadn’t allowed a ball out of the infield - including Kuhns’ single.

Macdonald ended that, blasting a homer to right field to tie the game. Valentini struck out the next two batters and the game went to extras.

“Everyone was playing poorly at some point in this game,” Sycamore coach Jason Cavanaugh said. “We were striking out way too much, not getting the ball in play, not putting any pressure on the defense. ... But that’s the way baseball goes. You strike out four times one day and you hit the homer tomorrow.”

Neece entered the game to pitch in the sixth, immediately picking off Aiden Whildin from first. In the eighth, he got the Knights in order for the first time in the game.

He ended up pitching 3⅔ scoreless, one-hit innings, striking out three and walking one. He, like the other three Sycamore pitchers, each hit a batter.

Macdonald hit three batters in an uncharacteristically rough start. He needed 26 pitches to escape the first inning and hit Whildin to start the game. He gave up three runs in the first, two unearned, and another unearned run in the second as the Knights built a 4-0 lead.

“It was a bad baseball game early for us,” Cavanaugh said. “We told them we’re down 5-3 with six outs to go and the game’s not over. We’ve played terrible to this point. If we get our act together we’ve got a chance to come back.”

Whildin had an RBI double in the second, scoring Caleb Cornell. Joey Pozzi added a single in the fourth, and two batters later Macdonald was lifted.

But Kaneland went without another hit until Kanon Baxley doubled in the ninth. He ended up stranded on second.

Nick Ridolfi got hit by a pitch to start the top of the 10th and got to third on a single by Carter Grabowski, who then advanced to second on defensive indifference with one out. But Devin Carlson struck out Pozzi and got Cornell to foul out to first to end the game.

“We get out to a four-run lead and we squander it again,” Kaneland coach Brian Aversa said. “I thought we had a chance to do some good stuff here today. I thought we were ready.”

The Knights got a solid pitching performance from Hyden Foster, who allowed three runs, all earned, in five innings. He gave up six hits and two walks while striking out 10.

He ran into trouble in the fourth with the Knights up 4-1. Jack Montani walked home Ben Anderson, who started the inning with a single. Adam Eder scored on a wild pitch.

Valentini struck out four in his two innings, while Baxley struck out four in 2⅓. Sycamore outhit Kaneland 9-5.

Baxley had two hits and Brady Alstott drove in two runs for Kaneland. Whildin, Christopher Warner and Ridolfi were each hit twice as Sycamore hit a total of seven batters. Macdonald had two RBIs and Anderson scored twice.

Macdonald, Ben Anderson and Sawyer Valdez had two hits each for Sycamore.

“That’s a great win to have,” Neece said. “I just feel like we’re going to mow down, keep going with that same energy the rest of the series.”

Cavanaugh said he’s optimistic for the rest of the series, which continues Wednesday at Kaneland and concludes Thursday in Sycamore.

“I feel good moving forward with the series moving forward because they used two of their dudes [Foster and Baxley] in this one,” Cavanaugh said. “Really three because the lefty they brought in in-between [Valentini] was really good too.”

Aversa said it’s a big series - the teams entered first and second in the I-8 standings through the first two of five conference series - and he didn’t want to hold anything back.

He said he’s confident with Jack Frey on the hill in Game 2.

“We needed to get a win and we’re going to do whatever we can to get that,” Aversa said. “We’ll think about tomorrow and the next day when we get to that. Frey is pitching tomorrow. He’s going to have a good outing. We’re confident with what we have.”