It was the kind of moment most kids dream about growing up in the backyard.

Just after AJ Lopez tied things up for Plainfield Central in the sixth inning, Finnley Gregoire stepped up to bat. The Wildcats had trailed Joliet West all day prior to Lopez’s RBI single and with Dakota Haymond on second, Gregoire had an opportunity to put the Wildcats up.

Then, he did the thing most kids dreamed about.

Gregoire blasted a three-run home run to put Plainfield Central up 8-5, which was the final score the Wildcats won by in thrilling comeback fashion. It was a heck of a start for Plainfield Central as it began a three-game series with the Tigers.

Plainfield Central (18-6-1) trailed 4-0 after two and a half innings of play, but clawed its way back with each inning before pulling ahead on Gregoire’s blast. It was Gregoire’s second hit of the day and the three runs gave him four RBIs for the contest as well.

“I knew I was going to get the job done,” Gregoire said. “It was a tie game, I knew I was going to drive the ball. I saw the kid the whole game and I just had a feeling. I stayed calm in the moment and I was ready for it.”

Lopez (2 for 3, two runs, two RBIs) and Michael Arroyo (3 for 3, one RBI) also had big days at the plate.

Starting pitcher Cole Sisti had a big day as well. Though he walked four and gave up six hits, only two of the five runs were earned and he struck out four.

He also managed to get the Wildcats out of the fifth and sixth innings unscathed, going 1-2-3 in the fifth and picked up back-to-back strikeouts in the sixth after runners reached second and third base.

“As a player I really like seeing the team come together,” Sisti said. “We were down in the early innings and seeing that camaraderie is my favorite thing about baseball.”

Luke Pacholski pitched the final inning for the Wildcats, walking one and striking out another with no hits allowed to earn the save.

It’s a three-game series, but Monday also caused a massive move in the Southwest Prairie Conference standings. Joliet West (19-9-1) entered the week tied for first with the Wildcats. The victory moved Plainfield Central to 11-1 in conference play while dropping Joliet West to 11-3.

While another victory this week would put Plainfield Central in outstanding position, coach Robert Keane is taking the “one game at a time” approach that helped get the Wildcats here in the first place.

“The most important game is the next one as they say,” Keane said. “Today was the biggest game we were going to play and more than anything, I’m proud of the way that they played. We came out on the right side, which makes you feel better, but I’m proud of that resiliency today.

“It’s great to get the first one (of the series), but there’s a lot of baseball to be played. We’re excited for the opportunity to go play them tomorrow. That’s a good team and program over there so we’re looking forward to it.”

Joliet West went up on Andrew Markun’s two-run, two-out double in the first to score Travis Skole and Henry Young. The Tigers made it 3-0 in the top of the second when Daniel Lukancic’s RBI groundout scored Bobby Malinowski and Sean Hogan’s single scored Isaac Harris to make it 4-0 just after.

Lopez’s triple to score Nathan Franks cut it to 4-1 in the bottom of the third and Gregoire got his first RBI the next at bat to score Lopez and trim it to 4-2.

Young’s sacrifice fly to score Lukancic in the fourth gave Joliet West its five runs.

Arroyo’s RBI double in the bottom of the fourth sent Colin Coberley home and Gregoire scored on an error in the fifth to set up Lopez’s RBI to score Arroyo in the sixth and tie it up. Gregoire took care of it from there.

Hogan led the Tigers with two hits.