Santa Maria, Benet enjoy victory at Glenbard South

Posted July 20, 2010 11:00 pm

There may be no crying in baseball, but smiling is just fine.

Benet's Sam Santa Maria proved it twice on Tuesday. The junior third baseman swatted 2 home runs in the No. 4 seed Redwings' 10-7 win over fifth-seeded regional host Glenbard South in the Phil Lawler Summer Classic. In Wednesday's 2 p.m. semifinal Benet (17-10) faces No. 1 Neuqua Valley, a 4-2 winner over Naperville Central.

"Everyone was making fun of me because I was smiling," Santa Maria said. "But it's fun to play baseball, it's fun to be out here in the playoffs - and you hit a home run, how can you not smile? It's an awesome thing."

Homer No. 1 was indeed. The Ruthian clout to left-center off an inside fastball scored Nick Moore to give Benet a 3-0 lead after one inning. An inning later Santa Maria - who went deep in Cooperstown as a 12-year-old club player - launched a curve over the 345-foot sign in left-center with Chris Stout and Andrew Jachna aboard to support winning pitcher Jim Lynch.

Youthful Glenbard South (15-12) got 2 hits apiece by Ben Gaspar and brothers Mitch and Ethan Gasbarro. The Raiders rallied for 4 runs in the last 3 innings and ended the game with the bases loaded.

"I thought our kids played hard," said Raiders coach Mike Riley, "so I have no complaints with the way we played."

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