Andrew Nicholas eyed a possible triple.

He wound up settling for a double — and hitting for the cycle.

A stellar day at the plate for Nicholas and Hinsdale Central led to Friday’s 12-6 West Suburban Silver baseball win over Glenbard West in Glen Ellyn.

The Red Devils (20-5, 9-4) burst to a 10-0 lead, which was plenty of offense to keep junior pitcher Kasey Ourada unbeaten at 6-0.

Eight players got hits for Hinsdale Central, led, of course, by Nicholas. The senior shortstop had a first-inning triple, a second-inning 2-run homer, a third-inning walk and a fourth-inning RBI single.

He came to the plate in the seventh needing a double for the cycle. He sent a deep shot to the center-field wall and made a wide turn at second, but he was held up as a strong relay throw came to the infield.
Could Nicholas have stretched it to a triple? Maybe, but he said he wasn’t thinking about the cycle — just playing smart baseball.

“I knew I needed a double, but I wasn’t thinking about it,” he said. “With nobody out I didn’t want to risk getting thrown out at third. Props to my teammates, everyone was hitting pretty well today.”

After scoring 2 runs in the first inning, Hinsdale Central poured it on with a 6-run second inning. Nicholas blasted a 2-run homer, and Colin Cimala followed with a 3-run shot.

Glenbard West (17-8, 6-7)  jumped back in the game with 5 runs in the third inning. Bill Boockford, who had 2 hits, drove in the first run with a single and then 3 runs scored on a three-base infield error.  Jon Reyes added an RBI single.

A game that looked like it might end in five innings started to get interesting.

“Down 10-0, that’s a tough hole,” said Hilltoppers coach Brian Wojtun. “But I give our guys credit. The kids never put their heads down, they kept battling back.”

Glenbard West reliever Mike Beymer held the Red Devils to 2 earned runs over the last five innings, but Ourada also settled down after the rough third. The right-hander struck out 11 and allowed 2 earned runs in a complete game.

Mark Noth went 3-for-4 with 2 RBI for Hinsdale Central, while Alex Bellusci and Toby Adeyemi each had 2 hits.

“I thought our kids did a nice job at the plate,” said Red Devils coach Tom Dorrance, whose team rallied from 6-0 and 8-2 deficits to beat Morton 10-9 on Thursday. “The last time we had a big comeback win, we didn’t respond well to it. I was excited to see the way we responded today.”