Upbeat Hinsdale South look to postseason

It might be hard to keep from looking ahead in the playoffs when Hinsdale South knows it could play the top-ranked team in the Chicago area with a win.

But the Hornets must realize what comes first. After winning nine games a year ago, Hinsdale South has enjoyed a revival behind the pitching tandem of senior Tyler Langosch (5-2) and junior P.J. Schuster, a strong defense up the middle with catcher Emmanuel Morris and shortstop Nick Sarocco and an offense that has produced six wins by scoring 10 or more runs in a game.

“Overall, I’d say everything has improved,” Langosch said. “Everybody has improved. Everything is better. Our hitting is driving most of our success.”

Hinsdale South (17-11, 12-5 West Suburban Gold) finished an improbable second place in the conference behind Leyden and has two regular-season games remaining at 4:30 p.m. Thursday at Glenbard West and then against visiting Sandburg at 10 a.m. Saturday. The seventh-seeded Hornets await the result of a play-in game for their Class 4A Benet Regional semifinal. Hinsdale South will play either ninth-seeded Benet or 23rd-seeded Joliet Central at 4:30 p.m. May 26. The winner likely faces second-seeded Providence (26-3), the No. 1-ranked team by YourSeason.com, in the regional final at 11 a.m. May 28.

Benet defeated Hinsdale South 6-4 on April 1 in the third game of the season.

Hinsdale South’s sectional at Neuqua Valley also features top-seeded Plainfield North (26-1), YourSeason.com’s No. 3-ranked team.

The Hornets handed Leyden its second conference loss May 9 with a 4-3 victory, two days after the Eagles clinched the Gold title with a 6-5 win in 12 innings over the Hornets. With a win over Leyden and a pair of wins over preseason Gold favorite Downers South, Hinsdale South is upbeat heading into the postseason.

“I look at that (regional semifinal) game and if we could win that one, we’ll end up facing Providence,” Langosch said. “I’d like to shock them; take them out with a regional win. That would be a huge kick start to the postseason.”

Langosch could get the start in the playoff opener. He started the season 4-0 before losing to Downers South 8-4 on May 4 and Leyden 5-4 in nine innings on May 10. He was the winning pitcher in Hinsdale South’s 7-2 win over Morton Monday.

Langosch, a Darien resident, did not play for a travel team in the offseason and stayed with the Hornets through their summer league season. He attributes much of his success on the mound with his offseason work with Strikes Baseball Academy in Broadview.

Langosch’s instructor at Strikes is former Illiana Christian standout Wade Kapteyn, who played at Evansville and was drafted by the Tigers in 2009 before pitching one professional season for Short-Season Class A Oneonta in the New York-Penn League.

“My pitching is not a surprise. I hoped it would be all right,” Langosch said. “I’m happy with it. I worked on it a lot in the offseason.”

During his season-opening win streak, Langosch won at Addison Trail with a 4-3 victory and pitched a one-hitter against Proviso East April 9.

Last season’s struggles appear to be a distant memory now.

“Last year things went bad in a game against Benet. It seemed to be the end, and technically we gave up,” Langosch said. “This year we beat Downers Grove South by scoring five runs in the top of the seventh. We don’t quit. We don’t go away. It’s new all around. We made changes, we have new leaders and we have new people stepping up in different games.”

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