On Wednesday night, Scott Lawler didn’t get the birthday present he really wanted: a Benet victory over Marist and a berth in the title game of the 2015 IHSBCA Phil Lawler Summer Classic.
But what he and his staff received over the last two weeks was a glimpse of what the spring of 2016 may hold.
Come Feb. 29, 2016, when Lawler and his charges reconvene to begin preparations for the 2016 season, they’ll do so with the knowledge they can compete.
The program’s first foray into the Elite Eight of the tournament named for Lawler’s father has put the Redwings on notice that a suitable encore for 2015’s regional title has almost became an expectation.
“Last year, as sophomores, at the beginning of the season, we struggled a little bit,” junior center fielder Erik Jones said. “But as we got into conference play, we found our stride with our bats and our pitchers did a phenomenal job striking and getting big conference hitters out. We’re just bringing our bats this year for this upcoming varsity year and we’re planning to do some big things.”
Jones hit .429 with five homers and 29 RBI for a Redwing sophomore team that won the East Suburban Catholic Conference title in 2015.
It was his two-run, opposite-field homer in the first inning of Tuesday’s 2-0 victory over St. Charles East that propelled Joey Christensen and Benet into the state semifinals of the Phil Lawler Summer Classic.
Jones represents the start of a deep junior class Lawler and his staff will rely on next spring, along with Marty Dosen and Alec McEachern.
McEachern had three hits and seven RBI combined in Redwing victories over Metea Valley and Wheaton North during the IHSBCA Hinsdale South Regional.
Dosen, meanwhile, had a pair of multi-RBI games against Wheaton North and South Elgin.
“Once we get on a roll, it’s pretty hard to stop,” said Dosen, who hit .278 in the spring with the sophomore team. “We had similar success on the sophomore team. I think we won something like 15 in a row and it’s just something that we’ve all been playing together for a while now. And once we get rolling, it’s hard to stop us.”
The confidence that comes with winning 25 games and an outright conference title as sophomores collectively shone heavily throughout the summer state tournament for Benet’s junior class.
“A lot of the guys that are two and three-sport athlete kids and they’ve had success at football, basketball, soccer, cross-country, you name it,” Lawler said. “And that competitive edge has really come out here on the baseball field, too. And they’ve had a lot of success on the underclassmen level, with this class, the junior class.
“So they’re bringing a nice edge and really our senior class—both these classes, as freshmen, won conference. So the juniors and seniors, so both of them have that little chip.”
Without much doubt, the biggest chip Benet played during its run to the IHSBCA summer state semifinals was the pitching Lawler and his assistants Jorge Acosta, Greg Girsch and Bob Gelwicks will have at their disposal.
Benet’s pitching staff was the collective catalyst in getting the program the furthest it’s ever been in the IHSBCA summer state tournament.
The trio of Joey Christensen, Mike Dunn and Sean Gallagher combined to throw 29 1/3 innings of two-run ball in five straight victories from July 14 to July 21.
No one stood out more than Christensen, a senior left-hander.
In 13 combined innings in the summer state tournament, Christensen held Metea Valley and St. Charles East to just one run while striking out 18.
Christensen ended his summer on a best possible note in firing a one-hit complete game in the Saints’ direction, in which he retired 15 of the last 16 hitters he saw while striking out 10.
The collective work of Christensen, who threw only 1 1/3 innings in the spring, Dunn and Gallagher set a tone the Redwings will undoubtedly look to pick up next spring.
“They’re throwing strikes,” Lawler said collectively of his pitchers. “Coach (Bob) Gelwicks has them down there as our little pitching posse and they’re a close-knit group. I think they’re all rooting for each other and doing a great job.”
The 10-0, five-inning shutout Marist posted on Wednesday, putting an end to Benet’s summer, offered lessons it’ll need to learn from.
RedHawks’ senior right-hander Brandon Hanik allowed just two hits while the Redwing defense committed five errors to help the RedHawks’ cause and harm starter Mark Moran’s cause in the process.
The ability of St. Charles East’s Matt Breidigan and Hanik to rely on trying to get Redwing hitters out by painting the black on the outside corner is a lesson Lawler wants his charges to pick up on.
Jones’ homer off Breidigan went to the opposite field but the two doubles Hanik gave up to Danny Sobolewski and C.J. Birck were pulled.
“The last two games, the pitchers are throwing on the outside corner and we haven’t adjusted very well,” Lawler said. “And that’s something I told the guys. I’m like, ‘We got to do that.’ If we’re going to win in the spring, it’s got to be able to go the other way and we only had a couple guys do that the last couple games. We didn’t adjust very well to the pitching.”
The six straight victories Benet piled up to the tune of a combined score of 44-8 on the way to the IHSBCA summer state semifinals has Sobolewski excited to see what 2016 brings.
“We think we can spring off these two weeks,” he said. “We played really well up to (Wednesday against Marist). Laid an egg a little bit, but that’s all right. We had a good summer and this was the farthest Benet’s ever gone in this tournament. We’re hungry for next year.”
