Baseball: Hinsdale Central’s season comes to an end vs. Plainfield North

Playoff seeding rarely tells the full story. While a higher ranked team may often be considered the favorite, you can never count the underdog out.

That was evident in the Class 4A Plainfield North regional semifinal game Wednesday between Plainfield North and Hinsdale Central. The 13th seeded Red Devils gave the fourth seeded Tigers one heck of a fight for three innings.

Then, Plainfield North showed why it was given the fourth seed.

After a scoreless 2 ½ innings, the Tigers put two on the board in the bottom of the third, added another later and shutout the Red Devil offense to get the 3-0 win. Plainfield North now advances to the regional final against the winner of Oswego and Naperville North Thursday.

Plainfield North (22-12) got a fantastic game out of pitcher Will Burke. The senior gave up just four hits, walked one and struck out five for a complete game shutout. Burke threw 59 strikes on 85 pitches in a solid effort.

“Obviously the kid on the mound for us pitched really well,” coach John Darlington said. “He kept us in the game, threw strikes and put it over the plate for the most part. The offense put the ball in play and made plays while taking advantage of a couple of mistakes (by Hinsdale Central).”

One mistake Darlington referred to came in the third inning. Chase Holtzman reached first on an error and later advanced to third on a fielder’s choice that resulted in no outs. Hinsdale Central got an out on a fielder’s choice the next at bat, but not before Holtzman crossed home plate.

Gavin Persson later singled on a hard ground ball to left field, scoring Johnny Andretich and making it 2-0.

The only other run of the game came in the fifth thanks to a few more mistakes by Hinsdale Central. Matt McCormick reached base after being hit by a pitch, advanced to third on a pair of sacrifice hits and eventually scored on a wild pitch. That gave the game its final score.

The Plainfield North offense actually only produced three hits and one walk, but they executed when they needed to. It also helped when the defense only committed one error and Burke placed them in good position.

“My defense was making a lot of plays,” Burke said. “There were a couple of double plays that got turned in a tough position for me. My curve ball was working pretty well and that’s about it.”

Hinsdale Central (17-17) got solid work out of pitchers Billy Main and Patrick Connors, who combined to allow three hits, one earned run, one walked batter and three strikeouts. The offense just couldn’t get flowing as Dylan Kassab’s 2 for 3 day was the best they could do.

The Red Devils graduate 10 seniors whom coach Jason Ziemer expressed tremendous gratitude for.

“It’s always a difficult day to go back to our place as a group, talk about the year and say goodbye to the seniors,” he said. “They’re a great group of guys that put their hearts and souls into the program. I’m going to miss them dearly.”

While 10 seniors is a lot to replace, 16 varsity players return, including some key contributors. Ziemer expressed optimism for the future of the team.

“We were definitely junior and sophomore heavy,” he said. “The seniors were great leaders throughout the year, but we do have a lot of returners so it’s looking great for the future.”

Plainfield North will host the regional championship on Saturday at 10 a.m. Regardless of which team they’ll play, Darlington said the approach will be the same.

“I think you have to throw strikes,” Darlington said. “You can’t give them free base runners and they you need some timely hits. If we keep doing that, we’ll keep moving and see how it goes.”