Most days you would have to be crazy to bet against Hinsdale Central’s baseball team.

Then again, most days Hinsdale Central isn’t running into Bill Boockford.

The Notre Dame-bound Boockford tossed 6 shutout innings against a solid-hitting Red Devils squad in Glen Ellyn on Monday afternoon to lead the Hilltoppers to a 4-2 victory.

“I had some decent stuff today,” Boockford said after his 4-hit, 10-strikeout performance. “I felt pretty good today, and I just came out and tried to do my thing.”

Boockford was locked into a pitchers duel early on against Hinsdale Central’s Kevin Quirke for the first 3¨ innings, with Boockford’s RBI single in the bottom of the third serving as the only run of the game to that point.

Quirke quickly found trouble in the fourth, however, after Jon Reyes’ fourth home run of the year put Glenbard West (18-8, 7-7) ahead by 2. After a single and back-to-back walks loaded the bases, shortstop Dave Pecorella lined an infield single to third to give the Hilltoppers a 3-run lead.

“They did a good job of scoring some runs when we needed it,” Boockford (4-0) said. “Obviously when you’re ahead you feel a little bit more comfortable out on the mound, so that’s always a good feeling.”

Though it had little success mounting any kind of threat through the first six innings, Hinsdale Central (20-6, 9-5) refused to go down without a fight. Right fielder Brett Morse led off the top of the seventh inning with an opposite field home run to get the Red Devils on the board.

Jack Dinardo’s single to left field was followed by a ringing double off the bat of Toby Adeyemi to bring the tying run to the plate in the form of Drew Bailey. Bailey’s sacrifice fly to center field scored Dinardo and brought the Red Devils as close as they would get. Boockford retired the final two batters on a strikeout and a flyout to end the game.

“We’ve got to give a fight for a few more innings than that,” Hinsdale Central coach Tom Dorrance said. “We didn’t have a nibble in the first six innings. I’m happy (with) the way they didn’t die, but that’s not championship baseball.”

Like Dorrance, Glenbard West coach Brian Wojtun holds his club to a higher standard.

“I don’t know if you ever feel good about being .500,” Wojtun said of his team evening its conference record. “That’s not our goal. We’re trying to do the best we can, but the bottom line for us is that we’re just trying to get better.”

Judging from the difference between Monday’s and last Friday’s game against the Red Devils, Glenbard West is achieving that goal.

“There were no weaknesses that we showed today,” Wojtun said. “We did a good job overall, especially after (Friday).

“We were able to get on top early, keep the lead, and play a full seven inning game, which is what we’re trying to do.”