Baseball: Another day of 'good baseball every day' for York
Put your head down and win.
That's the simple game plan for York's baseball team as it enters a critical week in the West Suburban Silver.
The Dukes kept pace for the Silver crown with Monday's 7-3 victory over Hinsdale Central in Elmhurst, but there's much more work to be done.
Lyons Twp. finished league play and wrapped up a share of the title with Monday's win over Oak Park. For York (18-9, 11-4) to grab its own share, it must beat Hinsdale Central (13-13, 7-9) on Tuesday and Thursday and beat Oak Park in a Wednesday makeup game.
Accomplish that - stretching their Silver winning streak to 11 in a row - and the Dukes will claim their first Silver title since 2014. They shared the title with Lyons Twp. that season as well.
"We're just trying to stay focused and lock in on the goal," said Dukes senior Ryan Ross. "Just play good baseball every day. We control what we control and that's all we can do. We can't worry about anyone else."
York thrived at getting runners on and getting them over on Monday. Two of the Dukes' three RBI groundouts came in the bottom of the first inning as they turned a 2-0 deficit into a 3-2 lead. York took advantage of 4 errors by the Red Devils to stretch its fourth-inning lead to 6-2.
Danny Schaub singled in a fifth-inning run to pull Hinsdale Central within 6-3 but Joe Goehl, who went 2-for-3, countered with his own RBI single in the bottom of the inning. Hinsdale Central stranded seven runners and had two more cut down on the basepaths.
"The little things can make a big difference in a game like this," said Red Devils coach Jason Ziemer. "They did a really good job of taking extra bases."
Winning pitcher Jon Meyers was solid in 6 innings. John Milling sent the Red Devils down in order in the seventh.
Hinsdale Central outhit York 10-7. Alex Simon, Tom Jurack, starting pitcher Ethan Harrast and Schaub had 2 hits apiece.
"We just need to worry about ourselves," said York coach Dave Kalal. "We control our own destiny. That's been our battle cry all season."
Twitter: @kevin_schmit