Not easy, but Saints get to state

Coming up two wins short of the state tournament this spring provided St. Charles East all the motivation it needed this summer.

Luke Rojas delivered a walk-off double Thursday in the seventh inning of the St. Charles East regional championship game, scoring Jordan Hayes all the way from first base for the winning run in a 6-5 victory over Prairie Ridge.

St. Charles East (31-3) will play Palatine (21-5) at 10 a.m. Monday at North Central College in its first state game, a tournament known as the Phil Lawler Summer Classic. Prairie Ridge ends the summer at 23-22-7.

"We've been counting down the games (to state) since Monday," Rojas said. "It's a great feeling. We were so close in the spring. It's a great feeling to know we can get there."

Wheaton North denied the Saints this spring with a 2-0 win in the sectional championship game on the same field the Saints punched their ticket to the summer state tournament Thursday.

During the spring Wes Benjamin had 13 of the Saints' 27 wins.

Thursday, Benjamin (who pitched for his travel team most of the summer) recorded his first win of the Saints' 31 summer victories - and it wasn't easy.

Benjamin injured his ribs on a collision in right field during Wednesday's win over Batavia. He gutted through a 125-pitch, 7-inning complete game win. He scattered 9 hits and 2 walks, striking out five.

Saints coach Dave Haskins had Mike Upton up in the bullpen during Prairie Ridge's 3-run sixth inning that tied the game 5-5. With the go-head run on base and 1 out, Haskins stayed with Benjamin who induced a 6-4-3 inning-ending double play.

"Wes knows when he is on the bump we are gong to win or lose with him," Haskins said. "He had a muscle contusion in the rib area. He's a horse. In the beginning he wasn't popping it. I told him if you get through the third and fourth he would loosen up. "

The Wolves outhit the Saints 9-6 but couldn't overcome 5 errors. That included a stretch of three straight errors on infield grounders in the fourth inning and another in the fifth inning when the Saints scored 3 runs on 1 hit to break a 2-2 tie.

"How many weak ground balls did he (starting pitcher Tyler Tennant) get?" Prairie Ridge coach Glen Pecoraro said. "We take care of the ball and don't make five errors we win the game."

Down 5-2 after the breakdowns, the Wolves tied the game in their next at-bat in the sixth. Alex Senyshyn started the rally with a single, Alex Martini also singled and after Bobby Myers' sacrifice fly, Kyle Hodorowicz singled home two more to make it 5-5.

"I was really happy with us offensively," Pecoraro said. "I thought we had great approaches. I don't think our hitters were intimidated at all (by Benjamin). That comeback we had, we could have put our heads in the sand. What a great job swinging our bats to get back in that game."

Saints leadoff hitter Ryan Shaffrey, coming off a 2-for-3 game against Batavia, went 3-for-4. No. 2 hitter Hayes had a sacrifice bunt in the first and then reached his next three times up, including getting hit by a pitch in the seventh just before Rojas came through with the game-winning hit.

Prairie Ridge protested that Hayes missed third base on the final play to no avail.

"I had 18 guys who said he did (miss the base)," Pecoraro said. "We are going to try what we can to stay in the game. A whole bunch of kids said he missed the base, they saw it right away."

Rojas went 2-for-4 as all six of the Saints hits came from their top three hitters.

"I got fastball outside half," Rojas said of his game-winner. "Coach wants us to sit back and drive it to right field. We practice that every day."

The Saints also practice "wearing pitches," which should be obvious to anyone who has watched them play this week. A day after getting hit by 6 pitches against Batavia, three more Saints reached via hit batters Thursday.

"It's been a year but we have come a long way," Haskins said. "We wouldn't wear pitches if our life depended on it but now it seems like we are cemented in there. That is what it about, doing the little things."

Rojas put the Saints ahead 1-0 with an RBI single in the first. Jordan Getzelman's 2-run single gave the Wolves their only lead, 2-1 in the second. St. Charles East tied the game 2-2 in the fifth without a hit, again getting a hit batter to start the rally.

Haskins also reached the summer state tournament while he was with Prairie Ridge, taking fourth in 2008 after his team won the IHSA state title that spring. He said either Johnny Hondlik or Kyle Manske will start Monday's game and Benjamin will come back Tuesday.

The Saints are in a group of four teams in Pool A, and the top two teams will advance to the semifinals Wednesday at Benedictine against the top two teams from Pool B. The championship game is scheduled for 7 p.m. Thursday at Benedictine.

"I'm proud of our boys," Haskins said. "It was an up-and-down game and they stuck with it."