Plainfield Central remains undefeated with win over Joliet Catholic in WJOL Tournament

JOLIET – In 2024, Plainfield Central’s baseball team took a step back from the year before, going from 29 wins to 17 with a lot of youth on the roster.

That youth has turned into experience, however, and it showed in the first six games of the season.

In the opening round of the WJOL Tournament against perennial power Joliet Catholic on Thursday, it showed once again.

Ryan Perry was sensational on the mound for the Wildcats, striking out 10 while allowing one hit in six innings.

The offense started slow but wound up getting more than enough done to down JCA 6-1 on its home field.

Plainfield Central will face defending Class 4A state champion Providence in the WJOL semifinals.

Plainfield Central (7-0) came into the season needing to replace three starters, including an all-conference performer in Cory Brock. However, everyone else is back from last year’s group, including Herald-News All-Area player JT Augustyniak, who went 2 for 4 with two runs. Sam Bathan also was a standout performer, going 2 for 4 with two RBIs.

It was Perry’s dominance of an outstanding Hilltoppers lineup that features a pair of Division I commits, however, that led the Wildcats to the victory.

“The first thing to say is how great Ryan Perry was on the mound,” Plainfield Central coach Robert Keane said. “For him to go six innings and only give up one [unearned] run that came on a weird play was great. To see him deal the way that he dealt was pretty special, and I’m proud of the him. He put in a lot of work, so it’s nice to see that come to fruition.”

It was a bit of a strange game, fitting after all WJOL opening-round contests were moved to Thursday from Wednesday because of the weather.

After Bathan’s RBI double scored Augustyniak in the top of the first, the game was tied for three innings, thanks to JCA’s lone run in the bottom of the first. JCA’s Matt Simmons scored on a passed ball.

A pair of runs in the fifth and another pair in the sixth gave the Wildcats a comfortable advantage, and they added one more in the seventh when Alex Syska scored on a wild pitch.

Tyler Gadomski struck out two with no hits or walks in the final inning, relieving Perry.

“The biggest thing [to my success today] was just trusting my teammates,” Perry said. “I knew my coaches had my back, and I love my catcher. I love these guys, so I had to give them my all.”

It’s very early in a very long season, but after finishing one game above .500 including the playoffs last year, the Wildcats have to be happy with how this year’s seasoned group is looking so far.

“We were youthful last year, and this is a great group of kids,” Keane said. “The experience we had a year ago has led to a lot of buy-in this year, which has been phenomenal. It’s a fun group to be around.”

JCA (2-6), on the other hand, has had the opposite story.

A Class 3A supersectional team last year, the Hilltoppers dropped their first five games of the year before winning back-to-back games entering Thursday.

While Rocco Szambelan struck out seven batters with just one earned run allowed, the defense committed three errors and the bats managed just one hit. Only three of the six runs Plainfield Central scored were earned.

JCA coach Jared Voss is looking for a better offensive performance when the Hilltoppers take on Plainfield East on Friday.

“We’ve got to get more than one hit,” he said. “Usually the team that scores more runs than the other one wins, and when you only get one hit it’s really hard to accomplish that.”