Benet hitters give Hayes breathing room
Benet didn't want to waste a great pitching performance by senior left-hander Conor Hayes in Thursday's home opener.
A 4-run first inning paved the way for a 5-1 victory over Wheaton North in Lisle. Hayes threw six scoreless innings with 3 hits allowed, 7 strikeouts and no walks.
"This is probably one of my best. This is the longest varsity outing I've had, so it's definitely the best," said Hayes, who still is finalizing his college baseball plans.
"We got huge momentum (from Sunday's 1-0 loss in eight innings at St. Rita). We knew St. Rita was highly touted. We just went in there, weren't scared of them, tried to attack them and just fell short, but we played really well."
Benet (1-1) lost despite allowing just three hits, two of them infield singles, and had the bases loaded twice. St. Rita scored on an unearned run off reliever Dan Minik after a solid outing by starter Mike Powers.
"We might have beat them in every facet of the game, except the score. That's what counts," Benet coach Scott Lawler said. "Rita was very clutch. When they needed to get an out they got an out. You've got to give them a lot of credit for that."
The Redwings were much more opportunistic Thursday.
Their first four batters - Connor Hickey, Cole Channell, Mike Ryan and Jon Kruppe - reached base, respectively, with a walk, hit batter and back-to-back singles.
Ryan brought home Hickey and Channell scored on Hayes' groundout. Ryan and courtesy runner Rudy Durchslag scored on the second of three errors in the inning by the Falcons (0-1).
"It was actually a really big deal because it seemed on Sunday that we couldn't scratch one no matter what we did," Hickey said. "To finally get that first run in, it just seemed like the top came off of the basket."
Hayes, meanwhile, threw 78 pitches with 52 strikes. He retired his last nine hitters in a row on 29 pitches.
"Conor did a great job throwing strikes and trying to make them put it in play. He's not an overpowering guy, so he's got to do that," Lawler said.
"I was just trying to throw strikes. Mike kind of set the tone on Sunday," Hayes said. "My fastball is usually pretty good. I finally got my curve ball over today, which is huge for me. My changeup usually works a lot for me, too."
No. 2 hitter Ryan Kocher had two of the Falcons' five hits, both off Hayes. The Falcons had two hits off reliever Ryan in the seventh and scored when Erik Mueller singled and came around from second on an infield error.
"After that first inning I thought we did a pretty good job of keeping them down. We can draw some positives from this, but not a good start overall," Wheaton North coach Dan Schoessling said. "It's good to see a good arm like (Hayes) early. He changed speeds real well."
Hayes and Powers are trying to fill the holes of a strong pitching staff hit by graduation. Hayes, mostly a reliever late last season, improved Thursday as the game progressed.
"I think I warmed up a little bit. It's still a little cold out," Hayes said. "After a while I set in. I got a little nervous for the first home game. Once that set in, I felt good."
Hickey, who will play at the University of Chicago, is Benet's leadoff man for the third straight year. He reached base all three times on a walk, bloop single and throwing error on what would have been a close play at first.
In the sixth Alex Tassos, a pinch-hitter for Hickey, doubled home Josh Tumpane, another pinch-hitter.
"I really like hustling down the line and causing problems. Pesky is what I like to think I am," Hickey said. "I'm not exactly towering over anybody. That's pretty much what I've done for the past three years, especially two years ago. I was smaller than I am now."
Both teams are headed for St. Louis. The Redwings will play in a varsity and junior varsity tournament over the weekend. Wheaton North is scheduled for five games next week, similar to previous spring break trips to Nashville, Louisville and Memphis.