Baseball: Kmet, St. Viator earn state return at Benet's expense

Cole Kmet churned out another huge outing Monday.

The 6-foot-5 lefty stymied Benet, striking out nine to lead the Lions in a 13-4 victory in the Class 3A supersectional at North Central College in Naperville.

The win powers the Lions (23-15) back to the state finals for a second consecutive year. They will meet the winner of the Rock Island supersectional, Marmion Academy, at noon Friday in a state semifinal at Silver Cross Field in Joliet.

When Kmet pitched against Benet on April 15, he arguably had his worst outing of the season. Benet touched him up for 7 runs in just over 4 innings pitched.

"Nothing was working for me that day," Kmet said. "I knew I needed to redeem myself.

"I felt real good. I knew they may come in overconfident because they hit me well last time. I was going to show them my stuff and I felt pretty confident today."

St. Viator coach Mike Manno said that first meeting with Benet was a turning point for Kmet this season.

"After that start, Cole has been great," Manno said. "He went back after that start and tinkered with his curveball and added a slider. That has been the difference."

Kmet has been 7-1 since, and dominant in his last 4 outings. He has allowed just 4 runs in those 4 games while pitching a pair of shutouts.

"He has been able to throw his pitches for strikes," Manno said. "And he was able to do it today."

Benet (25-12), which beat St. Viator in both of their conference games in April, kept the Lions in check for the first 2 innings. That's when the winds of fate shifted.

With two outs and runners on the corners, Kmet lofted a long fly to right. The ball got caught up in the wind and drifted away from the Benet outfielder, scoring both Brett DeSelm and Casey Kmet while sending to Cole Kmet to third with a triple.

After Jack Mahoney was hit by a pitch, Bryce Hellgeth layed a bunt down the third base line. Hellgeth beat the throw, which was also wild. Two runs scored on the play and suddenly it was 4-0.

St. Viator wasn't done.

A hit batter and a walk loaded the bases and DeSelm was the third batter of the inning hit by a pitch to force home a run. A wild pitch plated another run, Michael Wittich double home 2 more runs and the Lions led 8-0.

"It is unbelievable, honestly," said Wittich, who had 2 hits and 3 RBI. "It is just coming together all at the right time. We couldn't ask for anything better. We are just focused on having fun out there."

The Lions, who banged out 13 hits, continued their onslaught in the fifth and sixth innings.

Wittich singled home John Finnegan, who had the first of his 2 doubles to make it 9-0 after 5, and had the Lions thinking about a knockout.

"It was so exciting," Finnegan said. "I was seeing the ball real well and so were my teammates."

The Lions then threatened to shorten the game by 1 inning when they went ahead 12-0 in the top of the sixth.

Hunter Johnson, who had doubled, scored on Hellgeth's infield single and the throwing error that followed. Mahoney drove him home and later scored on a fielder's choice.

"We are on a roll right now," said Johnson, who scored 2 runs. "We just feel that no one can stop us right now."

Benet, who had been handcuffed by Kmet to that point, finally got its offense going.

The Redwings had singles by Tyler Bautista and Marty Dosen, scoring a run. When Kmet reached the 75-pitch mark, Manno pulled him to possibly save him for a Friday state semifinal game.

Benet had other ideas and continued their hitting ways. CJ Birck and Brandon Gorz delivered RBI singles to cut the lead to 12-3 and force the game to go the full 7 innings.

Kmet responded by drilling his 12th home of the season over the right field wall to make it 13-3.

Dolan Glasgow doubled to lead off the bottom of the seventh as the Redwings looked for new life. He scored on Bautista's single. But after a walk, Viator's Bobby Perna induced a 6-4-3 double play to send the Lions back to Joliet.

Benet coach Scott Lawler said the 8-run outburst by St. Viator was just too much for his team.

"We just didn't recover from that inning," Lawler said. "I thought our team battled all the way to the end. As you can see, they are all smiles."

It was a great year for the Redwings, who won 25 games and their first sectional title since 1989.

"We know that because these guys knocked on the door, it will make it easier for teams in the future," Lawler said. "Hopefully it happens again soon, because these guys got us this far."

Manno, whose team finished fourth in the state last year, is hoping to improve on that finish this weekend.

"We have three days to talk about what we want to do about pitching in our game on Friday," Manno said. "I feel that our kids have a chip in their shoulder. They just want to prove that they are a good team."