Baseball: Benet earns first sectional crown since 1989
Benet baseball coach Scott Lawler's three children, Lucas, Alexa and Tucker, all play Little League ball, which was what Lawler was doing the last time the Redwings won a sectional title in the sport.
On C.J. Birck's long single scoring Marty Dosen in the bottom of the sixth inning for the mandated 10-run victory margin Saturday in Lisle, No. 1 seed Benet beat No. 2 Nazareth 11-1 for the Redwings' first sectional crown since 1989.
"It's big, it feels good," said Benet starting pitcher Mike Dunn (4-2). "We came in (No.) 1 seed in the sectional, we thought we could do it. We weren't overconfident, but we knew we had a good shot to win it. It feels good, but on to the next game."
Sectional host Benet (25-11) advances to the Class 3A North Central College supersectional at 4 p.m. Monday against Lake View sectional champion and East Suburban Catholic Conference rival St. Viator, an 8-2 winner over Grayslake Central.
Beating ESCC foe Nazareth for the third time this season, Benet threatened each inning behind 11 hits plus 13 plate appearances that resulted in either a walk or hit batter. Redwings right fielder Tom Snell walked all four times.
"Once we smelled blood we really went for it," said Dosen, who drove in 3 runs on a home run and a triple. "We put them away early and we had a good idea that they weren't going to be coming back in this game."
Nazareth (21-18) reached a sectional final without injured pitchers Derek Salata, an Illinois State commit, and Louisville recruit Michael Prosecky.
"We knew we were toward the back end of our rotation, but that's not taking anything away from the guys that went out there," said Roadrunners coach Lee Milano. "Those guys battled, they did a great job in the conference. We never gave in and they got valuable experience."
After two scoreless innings Benet sent 25 hitters to the plate over the next three innings to post a 9-1 lead. In a 5-run third inning catcher Brandon Gorz singled to chase Nazareth starting pitcher Thomas Sandt, and shortstop Dolan Glasgow singled in Gorz and Collin Berry.
The Redwings scored twice in the fourth inning, and in the fifth Dosen cracked a 2-run home run, his fifth this season, to left-center for the 9-1 lead.
Nazareth was poised to make noise in the top of the fourth against the tiring Dunn. Roadrunners center fielder Michael Milano scored on a wild pitch to come within 5-1, and with two out Nazareth loaded the bases on a hit batter and two bases on balls.
Lawler brought Zach Strons in to pitch. On the ninth pitch of an epic duel against Nazareth's Julian Lopez, the senior sidearmer caught Lopez looking on a slider, "probably the biggest out of the game," Dunn said.
"I was just looking to throw strikes," Strons said. "That's all I was trying to do out there."
"Our bullpen's been great all year," Lawler said. "Our kids stay to the plan. We said, just play your game and good things will happen and they did. So I'm really proud of them."