By Drake Skleba

DARIEN - Back in 1999, Burlington Central head coach Kyle Nelson was an All-State pitcher for Hinsdale South in Darien. On Thursday, Nelson brought his 34th-ranked Rockets, back to his alma mater, and survived a late-inning uprising from Hinsdale South, as his Rockets hung on to win a 9-7 thriller.

Burlington Central (3-2) opened up a 9-1 lead after 5 ? innings. Rocket senior RHP Sam Klein (2-0) hammered his first home run of 2011, scoring junior CF Ray Hunnicutt, who had led off the game with a walk, for a quick 2-0 BC lead.

Rocket senior RF/RHP Joey Lange singled home a third Rocket run to make it 3-0. Hinsdale South (1-1) would pick up an unearned run in the bottom of the first against Klein. Klein would go on to pitch five innings, allowing two earned runs and four hits.

?A good performance by everyone,? said Klein. ?It felt good to get the home run and I thought I pitched pretty well. My defense was great behind me.?

Rocket junior catcher Tanner Scott homered with Klein aboard to make it 5-1 Rockets in the fifth. Burlington Central would put a four spot up in the sixth, highlighted by the third hit of the day, an RBI double by Scott, and the second hit for Hunnicutt, an RBI single.

?I was seeing the ball really well today,? said Hunnicutt. ?I really hit the ball hard past second base and felt good at the plate all day.?

Things looked good for the Rockets, up 9-1 as the game entered the home half of the sixth.

?I hit the ball pretty good,? said Scott. ?We all hit really well and it was good to get the big lead.?

The never-say-die Hornets went to work on Klein and the Rocket bullpen to close to 9-6. Hornet junior CF/P Sean Beesley and senior LF Tyler Langosch ripped back-to-back, two-run doubles, to bring the Hornets within three. Both Beesley and Langosh had 3-for-5 games to lead the Hornets attack.

Nelson then went to his closer Lange, who put out the fire after allowing the sixth Hornet run of the inning to score on an error. In the Hornet seventh, Lange retired the first two hitters before the Hornets made things interesting. A walk and the third hit of the day for Beesley brought the winning run to the plate, in the form of the hard-hitting Langosh. Lange induced Langosh to pop up to Scott to put an end to this thriller.

?Pitching has been the key to our success,? said Lange.

?Sam Klein has been hitting well for us and pitched a quality game,? said Nelson. ?Tanner Scott had fantastic game and is an imposing figure in the middle of our lineup. We?re glad he?s on our side.?

?Ray (Hunnicutt) did a good job for us and Joey (Lange) did a fantastic job in relief,? continued Nelson.

Senior RF Kirk Wells chipped in with a single and a double for Hinsdale South.

?We battled right to the end,? said Hinsdale South head coach Kraig Conyer.?We should be right in the thick of the West Suburban Gold race with Downers Grove South. We have a number of kids who will do good things for us this year.?