Downers Grove South quiets Benet's bats

The weather did its part to make Benet's baseball opener pleasant Tuesday, but the same cannot be said about the Downers Grove South pitchers.

Mustangs hurlers Jake Rone and Nick Burdi combined on a 3-hit shutout and also struck out 10 Redwings hitters as the hosts opened their season with a 5-0 victory in Downers Grove.

Rone pitched the first four innings before handing a 3-0 lead over to the hard-throwing Burdi, who pitched 3 hitless innings with 5 strikeouts to close out the win.

"I think it was mainly their pitching," Redwings coach Jeff Bonebrake said when asked the reason for the shutout. "They never got themselves in trouble. They're solid everywhere and they've got two good arms."

Benet starter Pat Callahan lasted three innings and picked up the loss after allowing 3 runs and 4 hits. Downers South notched an unearned run in the first after Jacob Wolf stole second and came around to score on a pair of errors. Matt Wivinis' deep triple to right center to open the second started a 2-run rally and the Mustangs led 3-0 early.

That cushion was more than enough on this day as Benet managed just one runner in scoring position, and that came with two outs in the first after Connor Reilly was hit by a pitch and Sam Santa Maria followed with a single.

The Redwings added just two more 2-out singles the rest of the afternoon, Zac Lewinski in the second and Matt Dorsett in the fourth. Staging a comeback against the Louisville-bound Burdi - 5-1 last year as a sophomore - was too tall a task for Benet on Tuesday.

"I felt strong," said Burdi, who was clocked in the low 90s with most of his fastballs Tuesday. "It's always fun coming out on opening day."

Leadoff man Kyle Engel was 2-for-4 with a run and an RBI for the Mustangs, who touched three Benet pitchers for 6 hits and 5 walks. The Mustangs, meanwhile, did not walk a batter and played superb defense behind their two talented pitchers.

"Hopefully, that's Downers South this year," Mustangs coach Darren Orel said of his team's no-walk, no-error effort. "We came out and threw strikes. I was impressed with our pitching and our defense."

One bright spot for the Redwings was the play of shortstop Nick Moore, who started a third-inning double play and also made a diving stop to hold Downers South to just one run in the sixth off reliever Eric Patzelt. Bonebrake knows one game does not a season make.

"They're probably going to win 30 games," he said of the Mustangs. "But we'll be fine. Ultimately this is a good wakeup call."