Baseball: Eight-run inning propels York past Naperville Central

Updated: May 19, 2012 5:12PM

With all postseason assignments in Class 4A handed out by the IHSA last week, the anticipation to get on with the state tournament is definitely there, especially during this final week of the regular season.

Honoring its seniors on a hot and sunny Saturday, it sure seems Naperville Central is ready to turn its attention to the postseason.

Buoyed by an eight-run fourth, York broke open a 1-1 game in cruising to a 9-3 victory over Naperville Central in Naperville.

After capturing its first West Suburban Silver title since 1993 earlier in the week, York exploded against the Redhawks. Junior left-hander Adam Gomez was the beneficiary of the offensive onslaught in going the distance for York (22-12), scattering nine hits and striking out three while walking just one.

“The big thing was my command. I had to get that first pitch down (in the strike zone),” said Gomez, who improved to 1-1. “As soon as I got that first pitch with my fastball, I really could use different pitches and I really could (keep them off-balance). It set me up well.”

Relieving Redhawks’ senior right-hander Matt Hay, who started and gave up one run in two innings, junior right-hander Cody Campbell threw a 1-2-3 third but had his problems in the fourth.

Sending 12 men to the plate in the fifth against both Campbell and junior lefty Jeff Schank, the Dukes took full advantage of some wildness from Campbell and some shoddy defense from the Redhawks to turn a 1-1 game into a runaway.

Campbell (4-3), who gave up eight runs — four of them earned — on six hits in 1 2/3 innings, loaded the bases to start the inning, courtesy of an error and a pair of walks.

After the Dukes took back the lead for good on Nolak Bialek’s second error in the inning, their sophomore first baseman Anthony Santos cleared the bases with a three-run triple over Kevin Linne’s head in center to give the Dukes a 5-1 lead, and they never looked back.

“It was good to see Anthony get that hit. He started off the season hot and then kind of cooled down midway through,” York coach Dave Kalal said. “Now at the end of the season, he’s kind of figuring it out again. And we’ve had him all and up and down the lineup, trying to get him in a spot where he’s comfortable. And it’s good to see him make contact and drive in some big runs.”   

Jim Nashert, Linne and Sean Goblet all had two hits each for Naperville Central (23-12), which finished second in the DuPage Valley Conference for a second straight year and begins its postseason Thursday against Oswego in the Downers Grove South Regional.

Nashert tied the game at 1-1 with a two-out RBI single off Gomez in the bottom of the third.

“We had to minimize (the damage) and we gave up the big triple with the bases loaded. After that, even if we did that, we would have been all right,” Naperville Central coach Mike Stock said. “But we just didn’t make the pitches, didn’t make the plays.”

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