Burlington Central rolls by Hampshire 

Updated: May 12, 2011 9:57PM

Burlington Central settled the score with rival Hampshire on Thursday, setting the stage for an intriguing rubber match between the rivals two weeks down the road in the semifinals of the Hampshire Class 3A Regional.

After losing to the Whip-Purs for the first time in three years last month, the Rockets reasserted their dominance by rolling to a 9-1 victory for their 13th win in 15 meetings between the schools.

The matchup marked the final contest between Hampshire and Central as Big Northern Conference East Division foes with the Whip-Purs set to move to the Fox Valley Conference next year, but there wasn’t much room for nostalgia with a win-or-go-home showdown looming in the state playoffs.

“We definitely wanted to come out and send a message and have a good approach at the plate,” Central senior Nick Hahn said. “We’ve got them in the first round of the regional, so hopefully this is a sign of good things.”

Hampshire (12-9, 5-3) saw its hopes of leaving the BNC with a league title come to an end with the loss while Central (16-7, 8-2) kept alive its hopes of winning a share of its third straight BNC East crown. The Rockets, who have completed their BNC schedule, trail league leader Richmond-Burton by one game in the loss column. Richmond has two conference games remaining.

Central set the tone Thursday with two runs in the top of the first and another run in the second to open a 3-0 lead. Hampshire cut that deficit to 3-1 with Nick Holze’s solo homer in the bottom of the second, but the Whips would come no closer despite having several opportunities.

Hampshire put together three straight two-out singles to load the bases in the third, but Hahn got out of the jam on the mound by getting Holze to ground into a fielder’s choice. The Whips had an even better chance in the fourth when they loaded the bases with no outs, but Hahn again came away unscathed after getting a strikeout and two fielder’s choice groundouts to end the threat.

“We had a few hits, but not at the right time,” Hampshire coach Steve Ream said. “It would just have been a lift to the team to get a run or two and accomplish something, but it was more of a momentum breaker for us.”

The Rockets followed Hahn’s high-wire act in the fourth by breaking the game open with five runs in the fifth to make the score 9-1. Hahn and Tanner Scott both delivered RBI doubles and Luke Fleming connected for a two-run home run to lead the rally.

Joey Lange led the 14-hit attack for Central, going 3-for-4 with two doubles, two RBI and two runs scored. The Rockets also got strong performances from Scott (3-for-4), Hahn (2-for-3), Sam Klein (2-for-4, two runs) and Stephen Tempera (2-for-3, RBI).

“We’ve been struggling at the plate lately, but today we did pretty well,” Lange said. “Coach has been telling us all year, ‘Wait for your pitch, don’t swing at junk early on, if you get a curveball try to foul it off and wait for a fastball.’ That’s what we did today.”

Sophomore Tyler Crater (4-3) started and took the loss for the Whips. He allowed nine earned runs on 12 hits while striking out one in five innings.

Hahn (3-3) went the distance on the mound as he struck out three, walked one and gave up one earned run on seven hits. It was a vintage performance for the righty, who improved his program record for career pitching victories to 25.

“Nick came out and threw the ball excellent,” Central coach Kyle Nelson said. “His record is not where it’s been in the past, but he’s actually been throwing the ball a lot better. Today he got defensive support and run support and did his job.”

© 2012 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed without permission. For more information about reprints and permissions, visit www.suntimesreprints.com. To order a reprint of this article, click here.