Baseball: Hinsdale Central slugs its way past Lyons
Hinsdale Central's Charlie Bergin was a fan favorite on Tuesday.
Every time Bergin strolled to the plate in Tuesday's home game against Lyons, he was greeted by the loud and boisterous group of students sitting close in the front row behind just off the backstop.
"Little bit, you can say that," Bergin said, smiling when asked if he was fan favorite. "I'm a social chap."
Blessed with a strong build and height, Bergin said he's enjoying contributing to the Red Devils in his first full season on the varsity.
"Last year I was a catcher on JV," Bergin said. "It's a big change for me. The pitchers are a lot better going to the varsity, but it's going well. I'm excited for the rest of the year. I can't describe how the rest of the year is going to feel. It's going to be awesome."
Bergin ripped a two-run single to spark a five-run second inning to lift the Red Devils to a 10-3 victory over the Lions in a West Suburban Silver game. Bergin's bases-loaded two-run single to right-center was part of a four-hit, five-run inning. Christon Malcolm led the Red Devils with three hits and Ben Oosterbaan added two singles and an RBI. Andrew Goliak hit a two-run single up the middle in the second before leaving the game with a hand injury, allowing Bergin to take his spot.
"I was just looking for my pitch and finally got it, and ripped it to right and that's how we got it started," Bergin said. "We're looking to win a state championship. That's our number one goal. We're trying to get there every day."
The Red Devils (8-2, 3-2) held the Lions scoreless in the first five innings before allowing a run in the sixth and two in the seventh. They play the next two games of the three-game series at Lyons, starting with Wednesday's game.
"It was a nice win, and this is a great rivalry," Hinsdale Central coach Jason Ziemer said. "Getting off on the right foot is great. We handled them today, but I told the guys that this is my ninth year here and I've never seen a sweep. No matter how good one team is going into the series, it doesn't matter because it's always a dogfight."
The Red Devils belted 12 hits and added two runs in the fifth and three in the sixth to allow starting pitcher Lucas Montesantos to enjoy an easy victory.
"When Lucas gets five runs, we're feeling pretty good," Ziemer said. "We added on, which was nice. It got a little interesting at the end, but we were able to close the door, so it will be fun on Wednesday and Thursday."
Montesantos, the 2021 West Suburban Silver Pitcher of the Year, said he didn't have his best stuff, but he scattered five hits across six innings. He worked out of a jam with two runners on the fifth by retiring the final two batters. The Lions plated their lone run off Montesantos via a sacrifice fly by Patrick Engels in the sixth.
"I love playing LT because it's a great rivalry," Montesantos said. "It has a lot of history, and so many of us know each other. It felt great to beat them. I competed the entire team, and felt really good out there. It was definitely one of my better starts. This team scores so many runs for me so often. It's an extra boost of confidence when they can score five runs early."
The Lions (7-5, 4-3) were led by two hits from leadoff hitter Frederick Ragsdale, while Jack McNamara ripped a double.
"We still got two more games to play in this series, and hopefully we can win the series," Lyons coach Kevin Diete said. "Their pitcher is very, very good, so it was tough. You can't make a lot of mistakes against a guy throwing that well. We made a couple of mistakes in that (second) inning."