Above: Josh Garner knocks in two runs in eighth inning to help Plainfield North beat Naperville Central, 4-3, on June 4. 2015.
Either way, Naperville Central’s fate was going to be decided by Ryan Eiermann.
Given the year the sophomore left-hander had enjoyed coming into Thursday’s meeting with Plainfield North, that only seemed appropriate.
Armed with a one-run lead heading into the bottom of the eighth, the third-seeded Tigers pieced together a one-out rally off Eiermann, coming away with a 4-3, eight-inning victory in a Class 4A Romeoville Sectional Semifinal.
After Eiermann struck out the Tigers’ leadoff hitter, Zach Jarosz, to start the eighth and then hit Bryan VanDuser, Jacob Dunham’s ground-rule double placed two runners in scoring position for Josh Garner.
Garner proceeded to drive a 2-0 pitch into left field to drive home a pair of runs and send Plainfield North (29-7) into Saturday’s Class 4A Romeoville Sectional title game opposite top-seeded Downers Grove South.
“I was just looking for a good pitch to hit,” Garner said. “I wasn’t really worrying about (Eiermann) trying to pitch around me.”
The decision to not walk Garner and load the bases with one out in order to set up a force at every base was something the Redhawks’ brass looked at.
But they wanted to rely on the arm that had done so much for them this season, evidenced by an 8-1 record and 114 strikeouts in 75 2/3 innings.
“We thought about everything,” Naperville Central coach Mike Stock said. “We decided no. We had better luck with (Garner) so far, so we went at him.”
Garner had two hits and three of the four RBIs for the Tigers, including a RBI double that tied the game at 2-2 in the third.
Eiermann struck out four in his 7 1/3 innings and 117 pitches for the Redhawks (19-17).
Naperville Central grabbed a 3-2 lead in the top of the eighth with the help of two hits.
After Justin Wegner and Bobby McMillen both singled to start the inning, a passed ball with two outs brought home Austin Sherman, who had come on to run for Wegner, with the go-ahead run.
But Naperville Central stranding the bases loaded after just getting one run gave Plainfield North the opening it needed.
With Tigers’ ace Kyle Strepek making life tough for the Redhawks’ offense, McMillen had the biggest blow as his two-run double in the third gave them a 2-1 lead.
In his seven-plus innings, Strepek struck out 10 and scattered three hits for the Tigers.
“(Strepek) works so fast early in the counts and he liked to throw first-pitch strikes,” McMillen said. “It’s a little unique. A lot of the guys throughout the year like to pitch low and away. (Strepek) liked to come high and inside. He was very unorthodox in the way he pitched and very herky-jerky kind of motion that got in on you really fast.”
The TCU-bound Eiermann suffered his first career loss once Garner’s two-run single fell safely to the ground.
But Wegner, the backstop for all of Eiermann’s 14 appearan”ces and 75 2/3 innings, believes it’ll only drive him the next two years.
“I think Ryan’s going to go into this summer and come back next year—he’s going to be the same exact person,” Wegner said. “He’ll have all the confidence in the world. He’s going to compete, just like he did this year.”
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