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Friday, March 29, 2024

Top-Seeded Nazareth Cruises to 10-1 Victory Over Benet

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A pair of walk-off victories to vault itself into a third meeting with Nazareth had Benet already feeling confident.

The fact its ace, senior Mike Powers, was going to the mound to try and get Benet its first sectional title since 1989 only added to that optimism.

The top-seeded Roadrunners, however, spoiled that plan by using three multi-run innings to cruise past the second-seeded Redwings, claiming a 10-1 victory in the Class 3A Nazareth Sectional Final on Saturday.

Powers (3-4) lasted just three-plus innings for Benet (20-17) in giving up five runs on five hits while striking out four.

But the four batters Powers hit proved costly.

Nazareth (30-8) took advantage of Powers plunking two of the first three batters he saw in the second inning by getting a two-out run on a Joey Muscolino single.

An inning later, Powers hit two more Roadrunners as part of a three-run third that was highlighted by a RBI single from Brandon Bossard and a two-run single from Matthew Wilson.

“You can’t have that in a game like this,” Benet coach Scott Lawler said. “But (Powers’) effort was there. It’s just we didn’t execute and he hit a bunch of guys and maybe not making a few plays. It led to a lot of runs.”

Four players—Bossard, Wilson, Muscolino and Richie Kiernicki–had two hits for the Roadrunners, who claimed their sixth sectional title in the last seven years.

“The first time, I personally struggled against him,” Wilson said of Powers, who threw against Nazareth on April 27. “He hits all his spots very well and he throws his off-speed with confidence and that’s a big part of it. So I was just happy I could get the bat on the ball and hit it well enough to get two runs.”

The Redwings got their leadoff runner on against Roadrunners’ starter Donald Kelly in four innings but couldn’t capitalize.

Connor Hickey’s leadoff single to start the game and Lee Barnes’ single off Kelly to begin the fourth were the only two hits Benet’s offense got off the combination of Kelly and Chris Campagna.

In 5 1/3 innings, Kelly struck out six while working around issuing six walks as he allowed one run on the two hits.

“He was locating really well,” Redwings’ first baseman Conor Hayes said of Kelly. “He was mixing his pitches any time in the at-bat. He was just throwing everything for strikes. We just couldn’t put the bats on him.

“He was shutting it down. It was pretty frustrating. We’ve been battling pretty hard all year and it’s just tough to go out that way.”

Benet’s only run came courtesy of a bases-loaded walk to Danny Sobolewski from Campagna in the top of the sixth.

Campagna responded by striking out Hayes and Jon Kruppe to end the inning and threw a perfect seventh to preserve the victory for Kelly.

“They have a lot of good hitters in that lineup,” Kelly said. “I just tried to use what I was given, work around them, look at their tendencies and really try to pound the zone. In that sixth inning, I kind of fell apart. But Chris Campagna came in and he just shut them down. I couldn’t be more proud of that kid.”

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Blake Baumgartner
Blake Baumgartner
Raised in Naperville, Blake Baumgartner is a 2001 Naperville Central alumnus and a 2005 graduate of Michigan State's School of Journalism. Since March 2010, he has covered football, boys' basketball and baseball for both The Naperville Sun and Positively Naperville. Follow him on Twitter @BFBaumgartner.

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