In much need of any kind of victory, seven was indeed enough for Benet.
Welcoming Neuqua Valley to Lisle on Thursday in hopes of snapping a five-game losing streak, Benet used seven pitchers to help nail down a 3-2 victory.
The seventh – senior Bobby Ernsting – entered the fray with the potential tying and go-ahead runs on base for the Wildcats in the form of Eric Nelson and Kevin Ringlein.
With Will Drake stepping into the box for the Wildcats (14-8), Ernsting induced him to pop up to Danny Sobolewski at first – helping give Benet some peace of mind, even for just one day.
“I was just thinking, ‘Make him hit it, make him put it in play, challenge him,’” Ernsting said of Drake, who had a RBI single in the first for Neuqua Valley. “Just let my defense do the work and Danny came up with a big catch.
“We do the staff day a lot. It’s a good way to get a lot of guys in the lineup, get some energy going.”
After Pat Barron started and went the first three innings for the Redwings, six pitchers followed him as Scott Lawler mixed and matched his way through a one-run victory.
Upon Barron leaving the game as the top of the fourth began, no Benet reliever went longer than 1 2/3 innings as the six combined to put forth four innings of one-run ball.
While he went to Ernsting in a manner – two on after seeing the first two Wildcats retired to start the seventh – he didn’t want to, Lawler said the plan was to use a lot of arms.
“Guys working hard need to play and some of those guys have been pitchers – like George Gapinski, who came in for an inning,” Lawler said. “And I told him, ‘You’re going to face a lefty. I know they got a lefty in their lineup, so let’s get after it.’ So, yeah, we knew we were going to do that and they did a great job.”
The Redwings (8-13) found a way to put piece together three runs during a three-run third. Thanks to the job their bullpen did, that was good enough.
A pair of singles and three walks helped highlight Benet’s uprising in the third – which began with Ernsting’s leadoff single off Neuqua Valley starter Jack Rigoni.
“Everyone’s just trying to do the little things and not have a couple people trying to do too much and the other guys just sitting around watching,” said Ernsting, who mans shortstop on a daily basis. “We’re trying to have everyone pitch in and do their part.”
A Jake Barnhart sacrifice bunt moved Ernsting to second and one out later, a throwing error allowed Ernsting to score to tie the game.
An infield RBI single from Sobolewski, who would eventually come home to score on a passed ball after two of the three walks put the Redwings in front to stay.
Rigoni lasted 2 2/3 innings for Neuqua Valley before giving way to Jake DuPre, who kept Benet off the scoreboard the rest of the way.
“I certainly appreciate the effort of Jake DuPre coming in and throwing strikes and throwing his breaking ball for strikes and keeping us in the game,” Neuqua Valley coach Robin Renner said. “When you don’t score a lot of runs, the mistakes just kind of get magnified. But it was just one inning and we kind of fell apart. It’s just one inning. We have to score another run.”
