Above: Benet’s Joey Christensen delivers a pitch against St. Charles East.
It didn’t take Erik Jones very long to know what to look for from St. Charles East right-hander Matt Breidigan.
As he began to warm up, Jones picked up on Breidigan’s tendency to rely on his off-speed stuff.
With that in mind, Jones jumped immediately on a first-pitch fastball for a first-inning, two-run homer to give Joey Christensen a two-run lead to work with.
“I knew, coming in, that he was an off-speed pitcher,” Jones said of Breidigan. “I saw him warm up. Once I saw him throw a lot of changeups and curves, my approach when I got to the plate was first-pitch fastball. See it, jump on it because you might not get another one. He threw it right down the plate.”
Christensen took things from there in posting a one-hit, 2-0 shutout of St. Charles East to propel Benet into the first semifinal of the Phil Lawler Summer Classic.
Christensen made the immediate two-run lead he was given stand up by striking out 10 and retiring 15 of the last 16 Saints’ hitters he saw.
“Everything was working again, just like Metea,” said Christensen, who was coming off throwing six innings of one-run ball against Metea Valley last week. “Breaking ball was there, changeup, my fastball. I was hitting all my spots. (Jake) Barnhart did a good job calling the game.”
Just like Mike Dunn did against South Elgin on Monday, Christensen struck out the first two St. Charles East hitters he saw.
He struck out the side in the first, fifth and seventh innings as his gem sends Benet (18-7) to Wednesday’s first IHSBCA summer state semifinal against Marist at 5 p.m. at Benedictine.
The only hit Christensen gave up was a leadoff double to Monty Carbonell in the second.
After picking off a runner he walked, Christensen saw the Saints load the bases against him with one out.
But a strikeout and a soft liner ended the St. Charles East second-inning uprising and he cruised from there.
In 13 combined innings during the summer state tournament, Christensen has allowed just one run while striking out 18.
The experience of being comfortable pitching in important games isn’t exactly new to Christensen, despite throwing just 1 1/3 innings in the spring.
“During the year, I played a lot of JV games,” he said. “Those really helped me build my confidence and get all my pitches up. Got me the exposure of getting in these kind of games, these kind of situations.”
The trio of Christensen, Dunn and Sean Gallagher has collectively thrown 30 1/3 innings of two-run ball for Benet in its last five games.
Those last five games have seen the Christensen, Dunn and Gallagher trio each toss a shutout.
Jones could only sit back and marvel from center field as he watched Christensen dominate.
“He pitched spectacular,” Jones said of Christensen. “He pitched lights out. Really helped our defense and it was a close game. (The home-plate umpire) had a large strike zone, but Joey hit his corners well. He knew where to pitch it and when to pitch it. It’s just a great outing by Joey.”
Jones’ two-run blast off Breidigan came a pitch after Josh Tumpane reached on a throwing error after hitting the first pitch of the game to second base.
Christensen’s exploits overshadowed what Breidigan was able to do on the mound for the Saints.
Breidigan struck out six and stranded eight Redwing baserunners in going the entire way for St. Charles East.
“He was a great pitcher,” Jones said of Breidigan. “He can get his curveball over for a strike and very hard to hit. Luckily, he gave me that first-pitch fastball and I knew to jump on it.”
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