Baseball: St. Viator claims some space against Benet

Breathing room in East Suburban Catholic Conference baseball is rare.

St. Viator finally found some on Saturday.

The Lions hit up and down the lineup in a 14-7 victory over Benet in Lisle, distancing themselves from a pair of tough losses to Carmel early in the week that started the ESCC slate.

An 11-2 fourth-inning lead was a pleasant change, especially with South Carolina-bound Jack Mahoney on the mound. Kevin Wilhite, Eric Adams and Owen Hickey each drove in 3 runs in the heart of the order.

"This is huge after dropping those games to Carmel," said Wilhite, who went 3-for-4. "Just to get a step in the right direction and get in the win column against a good team like Benet. We were able to play well today."

Seven St. Viator (9-3, 1-2) players drove in at least 1 run and six had hits. Conor Warner and Casey Kmet had 2 RBI apiece.

"We really needed this game to get us going in conference," said Hickey, who went 3-for-4 and pitched the final two innings in relief. "It's really going to help us pushing forward. As soon as we started putting the bat on the ball, the whole team started coming alive."

Benet (7-8, 1-1) tried to stay close with its 11-hit barrage. Connor Hincks and Charlie Romenesko each drove in 2 runs, but the margin never got closer than 6-2 in the second inning and 12-6 in the fifth.

Mahoney struck out nine in 5 innings. Benet countered with six pitchers who combined for 10 walks and a hit batter in addition to allowing 13 hits.

"We've got to throw strikes," said Benet coach Bob Gelwicks. "Our pitching is coming around. We've just got to get through the first couple innings and stop walking guys. We had 11 hits against a good pitcher, and I'll take that any time. The pieces are coming together."

Twitter: @kevin_schmit