Hernandez, Hampshire stun Burlington

Hampshire baseball coach Steve Ream had not planned on pitching Shane Hernandez more than a couple innings Friday.

But the sophomore kept cruising along against Burlington Central and wasn’t going to come out.

Hernandez tossed a 4-hit shutout as the third-seeded Whip-Purs beat the rival Rockets, 2-0, in the Class 3A Hampshire regional semifinals.

“My plan was, really, to pitch him a couple, bring in Luke Wians to pitch three (innings) and bring Tyler Crater in to finish the game.” Ream said. “But Shane was throwing so well, we said, ‘Give him another inning. Give him another inning.’ He just did a great job.”

Hampshire (15-14) plays top seed Marmion at 1 p.m. today for the regional championship.

Thanks to Hernandez, the Whip-Purs will have a full complement of pitchers available. The second-seeded Rockets (23-8) never got a runner to third base and did not have more than one hit in an inning.

“I didn’t throw too many balls and kept them off balance,” said Hernandez, who also made a few varsity appearances last season as a freshman. “I don’t miss often. When I come in throwing strikes, I’m usually on.”

Hernandez, making only his third varsity appearance this season, allowed a leadoff single to Sam Klein in the bottom of the first, but he was stranded at second. Hernandez walked the leadoff batter in the second then struck out the next three batters. In the Rockets’ sixth, Ray Hunnicutt walked to lead off. After a foul pop out, Joey Lange singled to put runners on first and second. Luke Fleming followed, hitting a hard shot toward second. Hampshire’s Dylan Nihells had to go to a knee to field the ball. He turned and threw to shortstop Danny Grzywa for the force and Grzywa threw to first and got Fleming for a double play to end the inning.

Hernandez walked 1 and struck out 6.

“Some days you come out and face someone who just shuts you down,” Rockets coach Kyle Nelson said. “He did that today. Give him all the credit in the world.”

Central’s Nick Hahn was just as good as Hernandez. Hahn (3-4) allowed just 3 hits, walked 4 and struck out 5. But Hampshire got a pair of runs off Hahn in the fifth.

Nihells walked with one out. On a hit-and-run, Grzywa singled up the middle. Nihells never stopped, rounded second and headed to third. Hunnicutt’s throw from center field was high and got away. Nihells scored on the overthrow. Grzywa ended up at second base and advanced to third on a wild pitch. Wians brought in Grzywa with a RBIn groundout for a 2-0 lead.

“I woke up this morning (and thought), ‘Boy it would be great to beat Burlington and end their season,’ ” Nihells said. “That’s exactly what we did.”