Above: Matt Darling of St. Viator celebrates his solo homer off Mike Powers during the first game of a doubleheader against Benet on May 16, 2015.
As the regular season prepares to enter its final week, there’s plenty of reason to believe Benet’s pitching can keep it competitive.
On Saturday, the outings Benet received from both Mike Powers and Alex Analitis in its East Suburban Catholic Conference doubleheader with St. Viator didn’t do anything to disprove that theory.
While Powers and Analitis were doing their best to give the Redwings’ offense a chance to get going, the Lions’ two starters of George Buray and Kevin Napoleon were just a touch better.
Buray and Napoleon threw a combined 12 2/3 innings of two-run baseball as St. Viator swept the doubleheader from Benet with a pair of 2-1 victories.
Handed the No. 2 seed in the Class 3A Nazareth Sectional earlier in the week, Benet (16-14, 7-9) was held to two runs on 11 combined hits in the two games by the duo of Buray and Aaron Tres in Game 1 and Napoleon in Game 2.
“(St. Viator’s pitchers) did an outstanding job and making sure we didn’t string hits,” Benet coach Scott Lawler said. “Did a good job when we had a chance to score, shutting us down and you got to tip your cap to how (St. Viator) played (Saturday).”
The lone RBI for the Redwings in the 2-1 Game 1 loss came off the bat of Villanova-bound shortstop Cole Channell, who drove Evan Plonis in with a two-out RBI single in the bottom of the sixth.
Combined in the two games, Benet stranded 12 runners and no one recorded more than one hit in either game.
Currently on a three-game losing streak, the Redwings have scored only two runs combined in their last 22 innings of play.
Powers (2-3) was the tough-luck loser in the first game for the Redwings after throwing a complete game while scattering five hits and striking out nine.
Aside from a Shaun Falbo sacrifice fly and a Matt Darling homer to left, Powers was in control for the Redwings, as he fanned two hitters in the first, third and fourth innings.
In the second game, from the end of the second to the start of the sixth, Napoleon had retired 11 consecutive hitters.
Armed with a 2-0 lead going into the sixth, Benet had Napoleon in trouble after loading the bases with nobody out, courtesy of two singles and a walk.
Napoleon allowed the Redwings to get just one run in the inning, on a double play off the bat of Danny Sobolewski, as he eventually induced a grounder to third off Channell’s bat to end the inning.
Napoleon’s fourth perfect inning came in the seventh to close out the doubleheader sweep for the Lions, which saw 5 2/3 innings of two-run ball from Analitis (0-4) for Benet go for naught.
After Powers went the distance for the Redwings in Game 1, Analitis scattered seven hits, allowing one earned run while striking out three in Game 2 before giving way to J.P. Renfro, who struck out the only hitter he faced.
“I’ll be honest with you,” Lawler said. “I can’t ask for more from what our pitching’s done all year. (Powers and Analitis) did an outstanding job again. We just need to string stuff together and when we do that, I’d like to see how we’re going to do in the playoffs that way.”
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