Saints' lefties quiet Kaneland; Batavia knocks off Boylan
From difficult to impossible - that's what St. Charles East's Dave Haskins did to Kaneland's chances of coming from behind when the coach went to his bullpen Tuesday.
Saints starter Kyle Manske held Kaneland to 1 run through 5 2/3 innings. But with the tying run at second base and two outs in the sixth inning, Haskins turned to his ace.
Wes Benjamin fanned Joe Camiliere - who was 2-for-2 up to that point - to strand the runner, then retired the Knights in order in the seventh to preserve a 2-1 victory in the St. Charles East regional quarterfinals.
The No. 1 seeded Saints (28-3) will play No. 5 Batavia (19-8) at 1 p.m. Wednesday in the regional semifinals of the Phil Lawler Summer Classic.
The winner of the St. Charles East regional will be one of eight teams that advances to state next week at North Central College.
"I know we have Wes and he's one of the top prospects in the area," Manske said. "For him to back me up I had no better feeling than when he was coming in."
Benjamin won 13 games in a dominating spring season for the Saints, just one victory shy of the school record. He's only pitched 3 innings for the Saints this summer, instead throwing for his travel team. Haskins said Benjamin will make his first summer start Wednesday.
Manske improved to 6-0, allowing 3 hits, 1 unearned run and 0 walks while striking out six.
"He's our No. 3 and I thought he pitched like a 1 or 2," Haskins said. "I thought he threw the ball well and settled down after the first inning."
The Knights (18-14) took a 1-0 lead in the first. Corey Landers singled, stole second and scored when the Saints couldn't come up with Bobby Thorson's hard grounder.
Manske only allowed a Camiliere single from the second through fifth innings, using his fastball on the outside corner and changing speeds to keep the Knights off balance.
"I thought it was a good effort and I felt good," Manske said. "The first inning was a little rough but that is usually what happens and then I settle in and get rolling."
The Saints tied the game off Kaneland starter Drew Peters in the second. Tony Rallo led off with a double, moved to third on Joe Hoscheit's grounder and scored on Stephen Osland's ground out.
St. Charles East put the winning run across in the fourth thanks to aggressive baserunning. With Luke Rojas on third and Rallo at first with two outs, Rallo broke for second. Peters ran at Rallo, and Rojas broke for home and beat Peters' throw.
"I thought I'd give it a chance and it worked," Haskins said. "The guys did the right things and it came out positive."
"Our guys kind of froze up," Kaneland coach Brian Aversa said. "I give them credit for making something happen."
Aversa saw plenty he liked from his Knights, both in Tuesday's game and throughout the summer. Kaneland turned three double plays in six innings, including a 5-4-2 twin killing from Drew French to Brian Dixon to Jordan Jones.
In the fifth, Landers gunned down a runner at the plate with a perfect throw from left field to Jones.
"Cory made an unbelievable throw," Aversa said. "I think defensively we're getting some good things to happen.
"I think we have a ton of talent coming up. I'm real happy with where we're at. To play 2-1 baseball with them I am real happy."
The Knights did a good job containing the Saints. Peters allowed 6 hits and 2 runs in 5 innings before Sam Komel pitched a scoreless sixth.
Kaneland just couldn't get anything going against the Manske-Benjamin southpaw combination.
"We had a couple poor at-bats, but their kid did a nice job," Aversa said. "We haven't seen a lot of lefties this year."
Batavia 8, Rockford Boylan 3: Joe Sortino got into trouble early, then got stronger the rest of the day to make it a happy ride home from Rockford for the Bulldogs.
Sortino scattered 6 hits over the first 2 innings but just 2 runs. Catcher Jay Clark threw out a runner stealing to help limit the damage.
Sortino only allowed 2 more hits the rest of the way, giving his offense plenty of time to take control.
Braden Hrack went 3-for-4 with 2 doubles. Clark tripled and Anthony Carby homered.
"Guys keep pulling together," Batavia coach Matt Holm said.