By Sean Duncan

 

PLAINFIELD ? A Cardinal Rule of covering high school baseball is never go to a nonconference game in the teeth of the conference season.  

 

But surely Friday?s matchup between No. 2 Plainfield North and No. 4 Providence Catholic had to be an exception to the rule. How could it not be, right?

 

Umm, no.

 

Completely spent from a long week of conference games, Plainfield North had no pitching left and, well, it showed.

 

Providence launched a ridiculous eight home runs in five innings as the Celtics (back)handed Plainfield North its first loss of the season by, gulp, a 20-3 final.

 

The Celtics (20-3) tallied 19 hits, 13 of which went for extra bases against two Plainfield North (22-1) pitchers. Providence senior second baseman Kevin DeFilippis set the tone when he took the game?s first pitch for a home run.

DeFilippis didn?t stop there. The Notre Dame-bound standout hit another homer in the third inning, and finished 4-for-4 with five RBI, two homers, a double and three runs scored.

 

?Baseball is a game of momentum, and our bats really got going today,? said DeFilippis, who entered the game with a team-leading .522 batting average. ?I?ve never hit two home runs in a game before, so this is a surprise to me and my teammates.?

 

After the first inning, Providence led 3-2, the two teams combining for seven hits. It looked like it was going to be a good old-fashioned slugfest, especially after Plainfield North?s Evan Whaley countered with a leadoff home run.

 

The Celtics, however, delivered the knockout blow in the second inning with six runs, powered by a three-run homer by shortstop Joe Houlihan (2-for-3, three runs, three RBI) and a two-run shot by catcher Dan Potempa (2-for-3, three RBI).

 

Providence?s offensive leader, third baseman Sam Travis, couldn?t just sit back and watch his teammates go yack without getting into the action himself. Travis proceeded to launch a taper-shot solo blast to left field in the third inning after DeFilippis connected on his second homer. The Indiana-bound Travis also hit a two-run homer during Providence?s seven-run fifth inning.

 

?Today just went our way with the bats,? said Travis, who has 10 home runs and 39 RBI for the season. ?I guess there?s nothing much you can do when you?re swinging the bats like that.?

 

Indeed. In the fifth inning, the Celtics belted three more homers: Matt Trowbridge had a three-run blast, pinch-hitter Casey Papp and Travis.

 

?It was a little surreal,? said Providence coach Mark Smith. ?I know they played a lot of games last week, and I know we didn?t see their best pitchers.?

 

The two teams may run into each other again in the sectional finals, as Plainfield North is the No. 1 seed and Providence is the two-seed.

 

David Hearne, a 6-foot-2, 170-pound junior right-hander, improved to 3-0 after allowing three runs on seven hits in three innings. Hearne?s fastball sat at 84-86 mph, touching 87. Not bad for the team?s No. 7-or-so pitcher.