Posted: June 30, 2009

The Brookfield Central baseball team was hot coming into this week, winning five straight games, sharing first place with an 8-3 record and improving overall to 22-4.

Looking back, the Lancers won nine of their last 10 games overall, the best start under coach Jeff Bigler.

Central had a little bit of everything last week - comeback wins, clutch hitting and excellent starting pitching.

The Lancers got their only bad performance of the week out of the way early, getting crushed, 16-2, at Muskego on June 22.

But the rest of the week was all positive for the Lancers, as they beat Plymouth, 6-1, on the road June 23; Wauwatosa East twice, 12-0 at Breitlow Field on June 24 and 11-2 at McCoy Field on June 25; Homestead, 9-4, in Mequon on Friday; and Germantown, 5-4, at home Saturday. The matchups with Muskego and Tosa East were the only Greater Metro Conference games.

Sophomore Collin O'Gorman had a good week, tossing a two-hitter in a complete game win at Plymouth and then earning the comeback win over Germantown with four shutout innings of relief.

"Having a guy like that to pitch non-conference games is a luxury for us," Bigler said. "He would be a number two or three pitcher on most teams."

Senior Cale Ross had a complete game two-hitter in the first win over Tosa East, striking out nine along the way, and then Mike Mierow pitched a one-hitter as Central beat the Red Raiders, 11-2, the next day.

Unsung first baseman Matt Upson also had a big week. First of all, he got two hits in both the Tosa East victories and drove in four runs in the first game. Then he added three singles, three runs scored and three RBIs in the Homestead victory. He then closed out the week by hitting an opposite-field double in the seventh inning to spark the comeback win over the Warhawks.

"I don't know how unsung he is going to be any more," Bigler said. "He is one of the guys who make things go for us on and off the field. He's turned into a leader in the heart of the line-up or making a clutch play on the field."

Sophomore Ryan Hinz singled twice, doubled, scored three times and drove in two runs against Plymouth and singled twice, doubled and scored three times in the second win over Tosa East.

Pete Ostergaard had three hits in the first win over the Red Raiders. Ostergaard and Mierow then continued to torment East as each drove in three runs the next night.

Schedule - The Lancers will host Hamilton at McCoy Field at 5:30 tonight before playing two games in the South Milwaukee Tournament on Friday. The Lancers will then open next week with back-to-back games against Marquette - on the road Monday and at home Tuesday - both at 5:30 p.m.