Benet hands Conant first loss

Mike stayed hot.

Urged to do just that by his Benet coaches, senior Mike Cunningham cracked a pair of doubles that drove in 3 runs in the Redwings' 7-4 win over previously unbeaten Conant on Friday in Lisle.

Benet (3-2) won a protracted split doubleheader, having beaten Batavia 9-1 several hours earlier also at home. Cunningham belted 2 doubles and a single in that one.

"The ball is really big right now. It's fun to play right now," Cunningham said.

"I was more of a defensive outfielder, I didn't hit that well last year. So it's nice to have a good day like this."

It didn't feel so nice to Conant (5-1). The Cougars left 13 men on base - the bags were full in the fifth and seventh innings - and committed 5 errors.

"If you don't make the plays, you're not going to win ballgames," said Conant coach Jerry Song. "I mean, 7-4, we gave them 4 unearned runs. So it's a 4-3 ballgame. Those plays we were making routinely, but today was a little different."

The first two men in Benet's batting order, Alex Staehely and Connor Reilly, reached base in six of their eight plate appearances.

Reilly, 3-for-4 with 3 runs scored, singled home Mac Coffey and Staehely scored on an error to give Benet a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the second inning.

Conant tied it in the top of the fourth, Nate Rahn and scrappy Bobby Colucci coming across.

In the bottom half Benet scored 3 runs to take the lead for good. Staehely scored on Pat Gelwicks' sacrifice fly, then with Reilly on third and Mike Vanchieri on first Cunningham launched a shot that nearly reached the center-field fence 375 feet away.

Conant came within 7-4 in the top of the fifth but Cunningham returned in the sixth to slice another double to score Reilly.

"I was able to turn on a couple," Cunningham said.

That was something Conant was unable to do, despite being handed nine walks by Benet pitchers.

"Just putting the ball in play is the main thing, I guess," Colucci said. "That's what we've been doing. We just struggled with it today. It's baseball - you'll have good days, you'll have bad days."

Benet's was good, though reliever Staehely had to wriggle out of a seventh-inning, bases-loaded jam to earn his first save and secure Dan Finan's first win.

"Obviously, we're going to have to pitch better, but Cunningham got those big hits and it was just a matter of us coming up with some big hits in key situations," said Benet coach Jeff Bonebrake.