They saved the best game for last on Friday night at Central High School's Gene Lively Stadium.
With the host Purple Pounders facing the Aurora Central Catholic Chargers in the second day of play in the annual Pounder Classic, Central was able to eke out a tense 4-3 victory over the Chargers, a team from just outside Chicago.
It was a whale of a baseball game where both teams got timely hits, clutch pitching and near-perfect defense.
But on an evening when it didn't rain and the temperature was dropping by the minute, it was freshman second baseman Sebastian Gayton who had the game winning hit with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning.
Charger senior Mario Magana had pitched the whole game and probably deserved much better fate, but he committed the unpardonable sin -- as far as baseball is concerned -- when he walked Walker Waters to lead off the Central half of the eighth.
Magana walked pinch-hitter Dillard Hawkins an out later before winning pitcher Tucker Smith flied to right for the second out.
Brandon McKibben had come in as a courtesy runner for Waters and raced around to score the winning run when Gayton lofted a 1-2 pitch just inside the line in right and just past first base, but it was more than enough to provide the winning margin as members of Central's team ran down its newest hero after the game had ended.
But for a game that took more than two and a half hours, the Purple Pounders were up for the challenge as they improved to 9-7 with Friday's win.
"It was a long game, but the outcome turned out in our favor," said Central coach Glen Carter after all the excitement had died down.
"Both pitchers were outstanding, but that fifth inning really hurt us. And we missed a few key signs along the way that hurt, but for the most part, we did well tonight.
"I was proud that we hung in there and didn't hang our heads when we could have. I thought Walker Waters did a great job on the mound for us, but I was really happy for our little freshman to get his first game-winning hit of the season," Carter praised his spunky second baseman.
"We've sort of thrown him to the wolves so far as we had a hole to fill at second base. He's been great defensively so far and I'm thrilled that he was our hero tonight. He's not used to being interviewed, so I'm sure he's already gone," Carter said later.
Aurora coach Sean Bieterman was upbeat following the last-second loss to Central.
"We came to town this week to play good teams and to compete and that's what we've done so far. Mario pitched well enough to win, but that's baseball. We have a lot of good days ahead as we just try to improve with each game, but we lost 6-1 earlier in the day and I'm glad that we could bounce back," he added.
Central took an early lead with two runs in the bottom of the second inning.
Micah Weaver led things off with a single and went to second on a wild pitch before moving to third on an infield single by Gayton. Catcher Colby McKinney then dropped down a perfect squeeze bunt to get Weaver home while a two-out single by Andrew Bingham allowed Gayton to score.
It stayed that way until the top of the fifth and that's when Aurora sent eight batters to the plate and grabbed a 3-2 lead.
Chris Patrick earned a one-out walk and stole second before going to third on a single by Jimmy Laurenti. John Belskis, Jake Smith and Michael Bieterman all followed with RBI-singles to give the visitors the lead, but Waters escaped further damage by getting Ryan Poplowski and Sean Sinisko on inning-ending strikeouts.
The Pounders evened the score with a solo run in the sixth.
Cody Reels led off with a double down the line in left before going to third on a groundout by Weaver. Reels then scored on a wild pitch to tie things up.
Waters, who threw 119 pitches in seven innings, probably deserved a decision, but left without one afgter allowing all seven Aurora hits. He also walked three while striking out 11.
Southpaw Tucker Smith, who pitched a 1-2-3 eighth, was the winner in relief.
Bingham and Gayton both had two hits for Central while Laurenti and Smith both had two for the Chargers, who are now 5-3 for the season.
Because of Thursday's rainout, all of the pool play games will not be completed, which means there will be no championship game on Saturday night.
Magana was the tough-luck loser after allowing four runs on eight hits. He also had eight strikeouts and those two walks in the eighth. He also hit a pair.
AURORA 000 030 00 -- 3 7 0
CENTRAL 020 001 01 -- 4 8 2
Magana and Bieterman; Waters, Smith (8) and McKinney.
(email John Hunt at nomarathonmoose@gmail.com)