By Drake Skleba

 

HINSDALE - To quote the old baseball philosopher, Yogi Berra, ?It was d?j? vu all over again? for the defending Class 4A champs from Naperville Central on Wednesday. Embroiled in a 3-3 white-knuckler with Class 4A Regional host Hinsdale Central, the Redhawks exploded for five runs, all after two outs, in bottom of the sixth to get past the Red Devils, 8-3. 

 

In the Redhawks? 2010 Class 4A State championship run, the sixth inning was repeatedly magical for the Class 4A champions.

 

With  senior Connor Philbin and junior Ian Lewandowski on base, with two outs, junior Ross Murphy (2-for-3, RBI) came through with a clutch RBI single, scoring Philbin and giving the ?Hawks a 4-3 lead.

 

?We really battled and got this team?s first tournament win,? said Ross. ?Lucente was on the corners all day and I was looking for something I could get my hands extended and drive. I hit the ball well.?

 

Redhawk sophomore Jimmy Nashert followed with another clutch two-out single to drive home Lewandowski and Murphy, giving NC a 6-3 lead.

 

?Luddy battled back after the first inning home run and pitched great,? said Nashert. ?It felt good to dump that ball into right field and get us the two insurance runs.?

 

The ?Hawks would tack on two more runs in the magical sixth on an  RBI single by senior Derrick Avers and a single by senior Mike Riordan; Avers would score on a bad throw.

 

Meanwhile, Belmont University-bound LHP Dan Ludwig (8-2) scattered nine hits and allowed three runs in his performance. Ludwig finished with a flourish by picking up eight of his nine strikeouts in the last three innings, striking out the side in the top of the seventh.

 

?I really went to the curve ball late and was successful,? said Ludwig. ?We watched Hinsdale Central Monday and they really like the fastball. We thought we could be successful giving them off-speed pitches.?

 

Hinsdale Central (13-20) jumped out in front 2-0 on a two-run bomb by Red Devil senior catcher Pat Foley, who was 2-for-3 with two RBI for the game.

 

Naperville Central (21-12) answered in the bottom of the first on a three-run bomb from Redhawk cleanup man Jake DeVoy. It was the fourth homer of the year for the Redhawk senior 1B.

 

?This was a big win and will give us momentum heading into Saturday?s championship game,? said DeVoy. ?After Foley hit the two-run homer off of Luddy they were really chirping away. I felt my three-run homer took their momentum away.?

 

Hinsdale tied the game at 3-3 in the top of the fifth on an RBI single by Red Devil leadoff man and starting pitcher Sam Lucente. Lucente knocked down 15 Redhawk batters in a row before he was a victim of the Redhawk sixth-inning magic.

 

?I?m really excited about this team,? said Naperville Central?s venerable head coach Bill Seiple, who is retiring at the end of this season. ?They have battled all season after we graduated almost the entire team from our state championship season.

 

?Even though Drake and the pundits at the Prep Baseball Report have us wiped out after Saturday, we believe we can move on to the sectionals. We had a team vote and we voted 12-11 that we will advance to the sectionals.? 

 

Naperville Central will meet the winner of Thursday?s Downers Grove South (18-11)-Oswego East (13-19) matchup in Saturday?s Class 4A Hinsdale Central Regional Championship Game on Saturday at 11.

 

Hinsdale Central bows out at 13-20 in the initial season under the tutelage of Hinsdale Central head coach Justin Cronion.

 

?We had a lot of ups and downs in our first year,? said Cronion. ?Sam Lucente did a great job for us on the mound. He got a little tired in the sixth but did everything we could ask of him. I am really looking forward to 2012.?