Baseball: Downers South Knocks Off Defending State Champs

HINSDALE – Downers Grove South baseball coach Darren Orel has been in charge of the program for four years, but a regional title has escaped the Mustangs.

Saturday, however, the Mustangs were able to capture that elusive title.

Downers South edged defending Class 4A state champion Naperville Central, 3-1, to win the Class 4A Hinsdale Central Regional title and advance to next week’s Class 4A Neuqua Valley Sectional.

“This is a big thing for our program,” Orel said. “This group finally got us over the hump a little bit. This group has been around a little bit and they’ve been close and they finally got over the hump. This is huge for this program in terms of down the line and doing these kinds of things a little more consistently.”

Downers South (24-13) got on the board early as leadoff man Kyle Engel doubled and scored on an error in the first. Central (21-13) tied it up in the fourth when Conor Philbin singled and scored on a Jake Devoy fielder’s choice.

The Mustangs scratched out the key runs they needed in the fifth. Kevin Strelak led off with a single, stole second and scored on Nick Tenerelli’s double. Starting pitcher Matt Wivinis followed with an RBI single on an 0-2 to push the lead to 3-1. Both runs scored with two outs.

“Once we got the lead, it helped me,” said Wivinis, after he was hit by a shaving cream pie by his teammates after the game. “It gave me more confidence to just throw my stuff.”

He was doing that all day, particularly his curveball. Wivinis scattered six hits in the complete game, striking out seven to improve to 4-5.

“My changeup wasn’t working very well, but my curveball, I had a lot of trust in it, felt like I could throw it for strikes,” Wivinis said. “I think I threw more curveballs than fastballs at the end of the game. It was nice.”

Wivinis was helped out by his defense, especially in the third inning. Derrick Avers and Mike Riordan singled to lead off the inning for the Redhawks, putting runners on first and third. Wivinis dug in and caught Brian Schiemann looking. Nick Lopez then grounded into a dazzling double play, highlighted by a quick turn from Engel at second, to get the Mustangs out of the jam.

“Kyle Engel is so underrated,” Orel said. “He can turn a double play as well as anybody. Everybody focuses on the shortstop. When you have a second baseman that can turn a double play and get you out of huge innings, that’s big. That was huge in that situation.”

Central junior Ian Lewandowski battled hard on the mound for the Redhawks, pitching a complete game in the loss. He scattered seven hits and struck out two, finishing the season 8-3.

“Ian pitched his heart out,” Central coach Bill Seiple said. “He was tough. He threw strikes. Downers is a good team, we knew that. We needed to play better. I needed to coach better. Better things had to happen for us. Good for them, but disappointing for us. This was a great opportunity for us. It just didn’t happen.”

Seiple’s 30-year coaching career comes to a close with the loss. The legendary coach leaves with over 700 wins and state titles in 2006 and 2010.

“This isn’t about me,” Seiple said. “I don’t think it’s ever been about me, at least I hope it hasn’t been. It’s about our community. I think we won like champions, with class, a year ago. I think we walk out of here with our heads held high like champions. That’s what we’ve tried to develop and produce at Naperville Central.”

The Mustangs will face top-seeded Plainfield North at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday in the Class 4A Neuqua Valley Sectional semifinals, presumably with ace Nick Burdi, who was dominant Friday, on the hill.

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