Carmel splits, stays in ESCC driver's seat

Fans in the stands at Saturday's damp and chilly baseball doubleheader between Carmel and Benet were bundled up in winter coats, hats, gloves and giant blankets.

But the Corsairs were nice and toasty warm inside their dugout, thanks to their head coach, Joe May.

Knowing that the elements would not be pleasant, May made an important detour on his way to the game.

"I went to the hardware store this morning and I picked up a couple of electric heaters," May said. "We don't seem to play well in the cold weather and it was really cold today. So we wanted to try to make it as comfortable as possible.

"We were thinking that if we had a long inning in the field, the heaters would be good to have so that the guys could come on in (the dugout) and warm up their hands before they hit."

Carmel wound up getting hot at the plate at just the right time in the first game when shortstop Mike Pudlo broke up a tie in the bottom of the sixth inning with an RBI single to left field. That drove in right fielder Derek Jordan, who began the inning with a big triple, and was the difference in the Corsairs' 4-3 victory in Mundelein.

But ironically, it was Benet, which did not have heaters in its dugout, that heated up in the second game, enough to pull out a 3-2 victory.

For Carmel, the loss in Game 2 was its first in East Suburban Catholic Conference action this season. The Corsairs, still at least three to four games ahead of Joliet Catholic in the race for the league title, are now 11-1 in ESCC play and 20-6 overall.

Benet, meanwhile, moves to 10-14 overall and 5-7 in the conference.

"Naturally, the kids were dejected after that second game and so were us coaches," May said. "But the good thing is, we've played well enough over the course of the season to be far enough ahead at this point to still be in good shape to win the conference. And that is our goal.

"I think as we kept winning conference games, guys might have been thinking in the back of their minds that it would be nice to go undefeated in conference as well. But this is a rugged conference. Just to say that you had a chance to do that and you were already two-thirds of the way into the season like we were, to me, is a pretty big accomplishment."

May says that he can't recall any baseball team in the history of the East Suburban Catholic Conference running the table in league play.

"Maybe (former Carmel coach) Chuck Gandolfi's first team in 1989 did it," May said. "That team went 30-2, so it's possible. But other than that, I can't think of any other teams in all these years. If I were a betting man, I would say no. Even Joliet Catholic last year didn't do it. They won the 3A state championship and had only 5 losses on the season, but they weren't perfect in the conference. They were 17-1 (with a loss to Nazareth).

"So, at this point, we're going to be happy if we hit our (original) goal to win conference. And we're well on our way to doing that."

Jordan helped the cause in the first game.

He went 2-for-2 with a double and a triple for the Corsairs and scored twice.

"On cold days like this, it's not the easiest to get hits going," Jordan said. "But once we got it going, the momentum just carried us."

Meanwhile, Carmel reliever Daniel Mooney got the job done on the mound to move to 5-0 on the season. He entered in the third inning to spell starter Paul Poirier, who got hit in the forearm with a line drive in the first inning.

Mooney got himself into a couple of jams early on but settled down to keep Benet scoreless in 3 innings before closer Nick Battalini shut the door in the seventh with another scoreless inning.

Battalini was credited with the save.

"I was still tight when I first got in," Mooney said. "But I just focused on my mechanics and everything was good. My outside fastball, curveballs to lefties and sliders to righties were working."

Benet managed 11 hits, including a home run by freshman first baseman Patrick McInerney, but stranded 15 base runners.

"It's frustrating from that standpoint that we had opportunities to open the game up but just didn't do it," Benet coach Jeff Bonebrake said. "Give credit to Carmel. Their starter got hurt but the kid they brought in (Mooney) did a great job of pitching himself out of some jams."

In the second game, the Redwings were a bit more opportunistic.

Batting as the home team in the bottom of the seventh, Benet jammed the bases on a single, a walk and a batter who was hit by a pitch.

With two outs and the game tied, shortstop Nick Moore took a 2-2 pitch and ripped a single up the middle to drive in the winning run.

Carmel's big offensive highlight came earlier in the game when Jordan hit his ninth home run of the season.