Lincoln-Way Central quickly found itself trailing by five runs in Wednesday’s nonconference matchup with Joliet Catholic.

And while they might have been a lot for most teams to overcome it didn’t even seem to rattle the Knights all that much.

After the Hilltoppers (2-1) plated three runs in both the first and second innings, the Knights quickly made it known that they wouldn’t be going away, tying the game in their half of the second and then tacking on several mulitiple run innings on their way to a 13-6 win.

“It’s just part of the game,” Lincoln-Way Central left fielder Austin Welsh said. “When you’re down early on, you’ve got to catch the fastball when there’s guys on.”

Welsh did just that with a two-run double in the bottom of the sixth that fully erased that early Joliet Catholic advantage.

“It was a big mood change,” Welsh said. “When you’re down and get some runs in the morale just goes straight up from there.”

And the Knights just went right on hitting.

Fueled by a five-hit day from Luke Tingley, Lincoln-Way Central had a 18-hit attack that allowed the Knights to take a lead they wouldn’t relinquish with a three-run third and four more insurance runs in the fifth and the sixth.

As for Tingley, he’s just happy to be a part of it.

The senior centerfielder is embracing the moment of getting his baseball season after experiencing a grisly football injury in the second week of the season in the fall. Tingley broke his tibia and fibula, essentially snapping them in half.

The original prognosis was that Tingley would likely be out nine months before being able to return to any competitive sport. But he beat the timeline, by a lot, and has been on a tear to open the season.

“They originally told me it was going to take nine months to fully recover and it took me like six, so I’m just happy to be out here,” Tingley said. “It was pretty depressing (at first), but I mean being able to try to get out here and play baseball with my teammates again kept me going.”

Lincoln-Way Central’s relentless offense was able to fully benefit from the effort thanks to a strong effort from the Knights bullpen.

After the Hilltoppers gave Lincoln-Way Central starter Noah Sloan some problems early on, Knights reliever Will Kedzior managed to limit the damage in the second inning before throwing up a pair of scoreless frames. He gave way to Tyler Arnold, who was spectacular in three scoreless, one-hit inning to close out the game.

After having six runs and five hits in the first two innings, Joliet Catholic managed just two hits, singles from Johnny Curbis and Steve Martin, over the course of the rest of the game.

“We’ve got to be in the zone early and we’ve got to be in the zone frequently,” Lincoln-Way Central coach Ryan Kutt said. “I thought Kedzior did an absolutely outstanding job for us getting out of the inning where things kind of fell apart a little bit and then going out there and throwing up a zero after we tied it at 6.

“And Arnold was just outstanding. He’s going to be a huge key to our success this year.”

Martin led Joliet Catholic with two hits, while Derrick Pomatto drove in two runs.

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