Plainfield North does Naperville Central rally one better

Naperville Central set itself up to extend its Class 4A baseball playoff run again.

Plainfield North had other ideas.

Joshua Garner's one-out single to left field in the bottom of the eighth inning drove in 2 runs and gave Plainfield North a 4-3 victory, ending the Redhawks' season in a Romeoville sectional semifinal Thursday.

"We're a proud program," Redhawks coach Mike Stock said, "and I like the reputation of being a good tournament program. These kids held that and even furthered it. I couldn't be more proud.

"We had some big at-bats. We needed another hit today. We needed another hit and we had our situations. Give their kids credit. We just needed another hit today."

With the game tied 2-2, the Redhawks (19-17) opened their half of the eighth with a Justin Wegner single to left, followed by Bobby McMillen's single off the shortstop's glove. Austin Sherman, running for Wegner, and McMillen moved to third and second on Billy Oliver's fielder's choice.

Mack Heatherly's walk loaded the bases with two out. Sherman scored on a wild pitch to Beau Buchanan, who then walked to load the bases again.

"We were a little down, but we knew we could come back," Garner said. "We've done it before this season."

Naperville Central couldn't get any more runs across, however, leaving the bases loaded.

"We didn't hit," Stock said. "I was real proud of the way we got our run in the top of the eighth. It was a play-hard where Austin Sherman just said, I'm going to do this, and he did and it was a great play. And we needed to back it up with a hit, and this might have added a whole different feel."

Plainfield North's rally started when Bryan VanDuser was hit by a pitch with one out. Jacob Dunham followed with a ground-rule double to left field, VanDuser moving to third base. Both runs scored on Garner's walkoff single on a 2-0 count.

"I was just looking for a good pitch to hit," Garner said. "I wasn't really worrying about him pitching around me."

Naperville Central left-hander Ryan Eiermann went the distance.

"He's a very good pitcher," Garner said. "He's got a lot of good stuff. He was really tough to hit."

"He was great," Stock added. "Ryan absolutely battled. Plainfield North, we've watched them a handful of times the last two weeks. One through nine, their kids are balanced in the box. They don't strike out. They make you work, and Ryan battled and battled and battled. I couldn't be more proud."

Plainfield North (29-7) will play Downers Grove South at 10 a.m. Saturday in the sectional final.

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