Baseball: Ben Llewellyn, Downers Grove North, drop Neuqua Valley

PLAINFIELD – Ben Llewellyn felt great and so did his fastball.

The Downers Grove North senior held Neuqua Valley to just three hits and senior Jude Warwick blasted a homer run to lead the Trojans to a 3-1 victory over Neuqua Valley during Wednesday’s Class 4A Plainfield North Sectional semifinal.

“The fastball felt great,” Llewellyn said. “(Catcher) Jimmy (Janicki) calls a great game, which helps a lot. I just throw what I need to throw. My slider was good some of the time and my defense was there to pick me up.”

Downers Grove North (29-7) advances to the sectional championship game on Saturday at 10 a.m. against Waubonsie Valley (24-9)

Neuqua Valley (16-20) pieced together a run-scoring rally without getting the ball out of the infield in the top of the third.

The Wildcats loaded the bases with one out. Jorden Castillo walked, Brendan Morris laid down a bunt single just out of the reach of Llewellyn’s glove and Owen Shannon followed with a bunt hit down the third base line.

Llwellyn’s pickoff throw towards second base ended up in center field bringing home a run, but the Trojans threw out Morris at third. Llewellyn then got shortstop Andrew Gould to fly out to end in the inning.

“We’ve fought back all year,” Llwellyn said. “It’s something we can do.”

They’d do it in the fourth inning with Janicki getting a rally going with a leadoff double.

After Brady Schallmoser flew out and Janicki moved to third on a wild pitch, Jack Romsey tied the game with a sharp single up the middle.

Romsey then moved to second base when Carlos Sanchez reached on an error. He then came home on junior JD Cumbee’s hit to center.

“He was throwing a lot of curveballs,” Cumbee said .”He didn’t have a feel for his fastball so I knew he was going to throw me a couple curveballs. It was down the middle hanging and I just drove it up the middle.”

The Trojans are now just a win away from 30 which would also be a win away from playing in a supersectional for a trip to state.

“The past few practices have been pretty decent with a lot of situational hitting, working on bunt defense, stuff like that,” Cumbee said. “Those are things that win ball games and hopefully carry us further in the playoffs. We have a special group of guys, close-knit guys, great seniors. We having a lot of fun out there and hopefully we can take it far.”

Warwick certainly looked like he was having fun leading off the bottom of the fifth. He launched a solo homer to right field to make it 3-1.

“He’s been throwing solid fastballs and he threw me one inside first pitch,” he said. “I was looking for it and I got the barrel to the baseball and I let the ball do the job.”

The Trojans missed out on adding runs later in the inning, loading the bases before Morris turned a nifty double play to end the threat.

“We definitely needed that insurance,” Warwick said. “It was a close game all the time so I knew one run could really switch the board for us.”

Sebastian Guzman, who kept the Trojans scoreless for the first three innings, took the loss.