St. Charles East downs Neuqua Valley

St. Charles East’s pitchers won’t be allowed to take batting practice during today’s rare off day.

A pair of seventh-inning throwing errors allowed an unearned run to score during the Saints’ Upstate Eight Conference diamond opener against Neuqua Valley Tuesday afternoon in St. Charles.

It was about the only negative thing to occur for the Saints during their 4-1 triumph over the previously unbeaten Wildcats (5-1, 0-1).

With senior southpaw Wes Benjamin (1-0) feeling more like his old self, the Saints held a potent Neuqua Valley offense that had generated 18 runs against Naperville Central just 3 days earlier to 3 base hits.

Benjamin, who saw extended action on the mound for the first time in 4 starts, struck out 8 during a 113-pitch, 5 2/3-inning outing before giving way to junior reliever Johnny Hondlik, who worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth and went on to record his third save.

“I felt real good,” said Benjamin, whose previous longest outing was a 61-pitch effort against Dundee-Crown on March 28. “Today was the first day my arm felt like it did last year. Now I know my limits. I’m not afraid to go full out back to high pitch counts.”

“We were very pleased with seeing that his velocity is back to where it needs to be,” said Saints coach Dave Haskins. “He did an excellent job.”

Benjamin pitched with men on base in every inning due in part to his 6 walks but helped his own cause by picking off a pair of Wildcat runners.

“We knew that some of their guys that got on were pretty quick so I tried to give them good looks and keep them honest,” said Benjamin. “We got a few good reads on them.”

The Saints’ ace also helped end Neuqua Valley’s scoring threat in the second when he charged to field Nick Oleskowicz’s 2-out bunt near the third-base line and fired a strike to first baseman Tony Rallo.

“I saw him square up so I threw an inside pitch,” said Benjamin. “I knew right away that I had to get there quickly. We work on pitchers fielding their position and it ended up being a routine play.”

St. Charles East (5-3, 1-0) capitalized on some wildness from Wildcats starting pitcher Kevin Hodgman (1-1) to take a 2-0 lead in the fourth.

After Rallo was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning, Hodgman fielded Matt Harris’ sacrifice bunt and threw wildly into center field trying to get the lead runner at second. Another hit batsman loaded the bases before Rallo came across with the game’s first run on a double-play grounder.

Ryan Shaffrey’s 2-strike single drove in Harris to make it 2-0.

“Everything that happened happened in like 30 seconds,” said Wildcats coach Robin Renner. “Boom, we hit a guy, then throw it into center field and hit another guy.”

The Saints added a pair of insurance tallies in the fifth, as Joe Hoscheit scored on a balk before Harris’ opposite-field double put runners on second and third with 1 out for Henri Desrosiers, whose grounder was unable to be fielded cleanly, allowing Rallo to score.

“In order to beat a team like this with a pitcher like that, you had to play clean baseball and we didn’t,” said Renner.

The Saints’ shutout bid was snapped when Mike Bogar walked, stole second and scored on a pair of throwing miscues.

“Because of that, our pitchers don’t get to take batting practice,” said Haskins. “If we throw a shutout, the pitchers get to take batting practice.”