Tenerelli’s blast boosts Downers South

Updated: May 27, 2011 10:27PM

The game of baseball can become very simplistic sometimes.

Against Downers Grove South, for Oswego East and senior right-hander Eric Egan, the game boiled down to one at-bat.

More specifically, one pitch.

Mustangs senior catcher Nick Tenerelli provided the game’s only scoring courtesy of a two-run, first-inning homer as fifth-seeded Downers South defeated 21st-seeded Oswego East, 2-0, Friday in a Class 4A Hinsdale Central Regional Semifinal.

Tenerelli drilled a 0-2 fastball from Egan over the fence in right-center and was responsible for three of Downers South’s five hits.

“I was thinking since he got me on the curveball the pitch before, that he’d come back with a fastball, try to get it up, maybe in, maybe go way outside,” Tenerelli said. “But he left it too far over the plate and I just put a good swing on it.”

When you have a pitcher the caliber of Nick Burdi toeing the rubber for you, one run is all you may need. Two runs may be considered gravy.

Burdi, who has signed with Louisville and is ranked as the No. 2 player in the Class of 2011 by Prep Baseball Report, made Tenerelli’s blast stand up by limiting the overmatched Wolves to two hits and fanning 12 in firing a complete game.

“I just wanted to keep hitting my spots,” said Burdi, whose fastball was consistently between 93-94 mph and was clocked as high as 96. “I knew that this was gonna be a close game. [Egan] battled, so I knew it was gonna be hard [for us] to get some hits. I was just glad that we could finish it out.”

Burdi (6-1) was so dominant that the Wolves (10-20) got a runner as far as second base only twice in the game as Egan and Danny Klingbeil accounted for the team’s two hits while Burdi walked just one.

Oswego East’s best chance to score came in the second when it placed runners on first and second with two outs, but Burdi struck out Cody Sumner to end the uprising.

“[Burdi’s] the real deal,” Oswego East coach Jim Vera said.

Nearly matching Burdi pitch-for-pitch, Egan (4-2) went the distance, scattering five hits. But Tenerelli’s 3-for-3 afternoon proved to be too much.

“I knew it was gonna be a pitching duel coming in,” Egan said. “It kind of sucks that the mistake turned into the only two runs of the game. They scored in the bottom of the first, and that’s something I’d like to take back. But it was still a good game. We played good.”

Looking to win its first regional title since 2007 and redeem itself for failing to get out of its own regional a year ago as a No. 3 seed, Downers South (23-13) will need to top defending Class 4A state champion Naperville Central, which defeated it, 10-2, in the summer state tournament last July, to do so.

“I got so much respect for Coach [Bill] Seiple and that program,” Downers South coach Darren Orel said. “They’re outstanding. We’re just grateful that we get an opportunity and we’ll go out there and compete and do the best we can.”

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