After a cleanly executed, 4-6-3 double play, a mob of light red quickly gathered upon the pitcher’s mound.
The emotions of winning the IHSBCA Hinsdale South Regional were still raw.
But make no mistake, Benet’s players grasp the reverence the Lawler name holds in these parts.
Alec McEachern has only been up with Benet’s varsity team for 23 games.
But it didn’t taken him very long to understand what the Redwings’ 12-0, five-inning victory over Wheaton North on Thursday meant.
“It’s very special,” McEachern said of getting Scott Lawler to the Phil Lawler Summer Classic. “Honor his dad and everything he’s done and his legacy and just taking Benet this far.”
After playing in the final eight of the summer state tournament three times for Bill Seiple and his father at Naperville Central, Scott Lawler returns as a coach.
“Absolutely (it means a lot),” Benet coach Scott Lawler said of the tournament renamed for his father in 2009. “Absolutely. Being the tournament that’s named after my dad and working it when I was a young kid, playing in it for three years when I was in high school.
“We made the final eight three years that I was there. Finished second. Never won it. Never won it but made it, so it’s a honor. I’ll be honest with you, too: it’s the first time our program’s been there and it’s a great thing for our program and our kids. So I’m really proud of them.”
In large part to McEachern’s exploits, the Redwings head into a Monday date with South Elgin at North Central College at 2:30.
Thrust into the lineup last week in hopes of helping Benet reach the finals of the tournament named for its coach’s father, McEachern seized the opportunity.
A combined three hits and seven RBI in Redwing victories over Metea Valley and Wheaton North from McEachern, coupled with tremendous pitching, has Benet prepping for the Storm, which finished third in Class 4A in 2014.
“I think we’ll go as far as we can,” he said. “It depends on our hitting. Pitching as well. Pitching will play a big part. I don’t know. It’s still baseball. You never know, but we’re going to give it our best shot and go as far as we can go.”
Thanks to Mike Dunn, Joey Christensen and Sean Gallagher, Benet’s pitching has been on the upswing.
In 16 1/3 combined innings against Romeoville, Metea Valley and Wheaton North, that trio of Redwing starters allowed just one run.
“His heart,” Scott Lawler said of what impressed him from Gallagher on Thursday. “The kid’s a competitor. He’s a utility guy. He backs up about five different people and pitches for us. We thought, the fourth day, you need somebody that’s gutty and gritty and ‘Let’s give it to Gallagher because he is that.’”
For McEachern, his sudden call to prominence in the Redwing order represents an opportunity to build on his spring season on the sophomore team.
In 29 games, the junior right fielder hit .233 with a homer and 12 RBI as the Redwings’ sophomores followed the varsity’s lead from 2013 and 2014 by winning an ESCC title.
Asked what has changed since the spring, he credits Benet’s upperclassmen.
“Really, the seniors have helped all us juniors feel more comfortable,” he said. “We know that when we need a big hit, the seniors will be there and I know that the seniors in front of me in the lineup are just going to get on base and all I got to do is my job and knock them in.”
McEachern’s first two starts may indicate a presence that could fit nicely in the heart of Benet’s order next spring.
“He’s a strong kid,” Scott Lawler said of McEachern. “He plays a good right field. He’s a physical kid that even if he mishits a ball, it could go. That’s a nice thing to have in your lineup.”
Against Wheaton North on Thursday, three juniors, Erik Jones, Marty Dosen and McEachern, combined for six hits, four doubles and seven RBI.
This spring, Jones hit .419 with five homers and 29 RBI for the Redwings’ sophomores while Dosen hit .275 with three homers and 11 RBI.
Last week, Benet’s offense posted outputs of 11 runs against Glenbard South on Monday and the 12 runs against the Falcons on Thursday to go with five apiece against Romeoville and Metea Valley.
“I think that just hitting is contagious and we’ve just had a couple hot streaks,” Dosen said. “Once we get the bats going, it just seems like everyone starts to hit the ball. That’s just been what’s going on this week.”
McEachern acknowledges his .233 average from the spring won’t cut it going forward as he prepares to join the varsity next spring, which comes off the program’s first regional title since 2008.
But he also knows the training ground he and the rest of the Benet juniors have had and feels that will only help Scott Lawler’s program as it looks to 2016.
“I feel that we know how to win,” McEachern said collectively of Benet’s junior class. “We know how to close games out and not give up runs in the last inning, hold leads. We’re just going to be a solid team this year, with all the winning and everything. It also showed that we keep our heads straight.
“We don’t get too full of ourselves and we just stay focused on the season. Coach Lawler does a great job of that, too. He really keeps us on the straight and narrow. We don’t get too cocky. We just play the game, do our jobs and win baseball games.”
