Schalk and awe: Wheaton N. cruises

With one swing Wheaton North's Jeff Schalk epitomized the entire baseball game.

No doubt.

Schalk's towering home run to lead off the bottom of the fifth inning gave the Falcons a 12-2 five-inning victory over Hinsdale Central in Wednesday's Glenbard South regional semifinals at the Phil Lawler Summer Classic.

Second-seeded Wheaton North (22-5) faces No. 1 Neuqua Valley (28-3) in the regional final at 4:30 p.m. today. The Falcons aim to advance to the state's Elite Eight for the first time since 2003 while Neuqua Valley seeks to make it for the first time in program history.

The Falcons continued their torrid hitting against Hinsdale Central, immediately seizing command by following a 3-run first inning with a 6-run second. Wheaton North posted its second straight 10-run victory and has outscored its three playoff opponents 31-6 this week.

"We just played great again, I mean, we're just cruising right now," Schalk said. "I don't know what it is, we've just got that attitude where we're going to come out and take care of business."

For the second straight day the Falcons did not strike out. They constantly kept pressure on the Red Devils' defense, which especially paid off in the 6-run second inning. Bolstered by a pair of errors, Dale Trimble smashed a 2-run double and Dan Brake drove in 2 more runs with a single.

Hinsdale Central had just scored 2 runs in the top of the second on an RBI single by Bobby Skogsbergh and Phil Zarcone's run-scoring groundout. Once Wheaton North built the 9-3 advantage, however, the Red Devils never again challenged Falcons starting pitcher Craig Berberich, who scattered 6 hits in 5 innings.

"Everyone in our lineup is hitting right now," Trimble said. "If we keep hitting like this, we could win a lot of games. We're putting the ball in play, we're seeing the ball real well."

Ryan Kent and John Peltz each had 2 hits and an RBI for the Falcons. Schalk and Brake also had 2 hits apiece.

"Just playing well this week gives you a lot of confidence going into next spring, which is worth a lot," said Wheaton North coach Dan Schoessling. "I thought we took really good at bats today. It just seemed like we were keeping some pressure on them consistently."