When he was needed the most, Ryan Eiermann just reverted to what he knows best – firing strikes.
Inheriting a troublesome situation last Tuesday opposite Neuqua Valley, the senior left-hander didn’t flinch when entered the fray with just one out in the bottom of the first.
Racking up 13 strikeouts in relief of Tyler Brinker, Eiermann helped lead Naperville Central to a come-from-behind 9-3 victory to eliminate the top-seeded Wildcats in the IHSBCA Hinsdale South Regional.
A fifth career double-digit strikeout effort from the TCU-bound Eiermann showed flashes of the pitcher who took the area by storm as a sophomore in 2015.
The example Charlie Walzer and Eiermann set on the mound the first two days in combining for 11 2/3 innings of scoreless baseball established the tone for the ninth-seeded Redhawks.
Victories over Plainfield East and Metea Valley followed the next two days for the Redhawks (12-10) as they recorded ¼ of their summer season win total during last week.
After an eight-year absence, Naperville Central returns to the final eight of the IHSBCA summer state tournament on Monday when it faces off with Fremd at 12:30 at Benedictine University.
First starting in 1976 with 16 schools, 137 schools competed last year in the IHSBCA summer state baseball tournament – renamed for Phil Lawler in 2009.
From 1984 until his death in April 2010, Lawler served as the tournament’s director while also operating as Bill Seiple’s right-hand man in the dugout.
Along with its 2006 Class AA state title and a program-record 38 victories and Class 4A state title in 2010, Naperville Central owns a 1989 summer state title.
Four second-place finishes have also highlighted the program’s lineage in the tournament Lawler and Seiple helped kickstart.
Back in the final eight of the tournament for the first time since 2008, the Redhawks are one of two teams competing next week to win a summer state title.
Whether it gets a title closer to Lyons Township’s four this week remains to be seen, but it definitely feels right with Naperville Central back on the Phil Lawler Summer Classic stage.
