WW South falls in pitchers' duel

After nine innings of seemingly effortless pitching, Austin Butler was prepared to keep heading back to the mound if it meant helping Hinsdale Central's baseball team come away with a victory.

Teammate Max Peters, however, made sure his day was done.

With two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, Peters skipped a shot down the left-field line to score Ben Chapman with the winning run in the Red Devils' 1-0 victory over Wheaton Warrenville South in Friday's Class 4A Bolingbrook regional semifinals.

The Red Devils (19-16), seeded eighth, advance to Saturday's title game to face top-seeded Plainfield North.

"I'm going to go out there and play as hard as I can every pitch, every inning," Butler said. "That hit, those baserunners. Everybody did their part today, and that's why we won."

Butler was brilliant during an 82-pitch, 9-inning outing. He allowed only 2 hits, walked none and struck out seven. Brett Struebing was nearly as masterful for No. 9 WW South (16-13), scattering 7 hits while striking out eight, hitting a batter and walking two.

Struebing retired the first two batters in the bottom of the ninth, but Red Devils catcher Matt Muellner smacked a double to right-center field. After Chapman was subbed in as a courtesy runner, Michael Johnson was intentionally walked.

Peters, 3-for-4 on the day, took his at-bat to a full count before ending the game with the hit that scored Chapman from second base.

"We couldn't get anything going, their kid did a nice job," said WW South coach Tim Brylka. "We knew going in we felt good about Brett. It was just a matter of if we could push one or two across, and we couldn't do it."

The lineups struggled most of the game against Butler and Struebing, who escaped a first-and-third jam in the second inning by cutting down a runner at home trying to execute a walk-off play. Hinsdale Central put runners on first and second with no outs in the seventh inning, but Struebing coaxed a double play and then struck out the next batter to send the game to extra innings.

Butler allowed only four baserunners, including one that reached on a fielder's choice. WW South put a runner on second base with one out in the sixth, but the Tigers lined into an inning-ending double play.

Butler retired the final 12 batters he faced.

"One of the best pitching performances I've been a part of," said Red Devils coach Jason Ziemer. "It was a dominant performance by Austin."

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