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Friday, March 29, 2024

Eric Bennes A Tad Better Than Ryan Eiermann As Fremd Picks Up 1-0, Eight-Inning Victory Over Naperville Central In Phil Lawler Summer Classic

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Ryan Eiermann has every reason to feel confident any time he steps on the mound.

While he wasn’t as sharp as he was last week at Neuqua Valley, Eiermann gave Naperville Central five solid innings Monday against Fremd.

As pool play began in the IHSBCA Phil Lawler Summer Classic at Benedictine University, Fremd’s Eric Bennes was just a tad better.

Holding the Redhawks’ offense to just four hits and one walk over eight innings, Bennes went the distance in the Vikings’ 1-0 shutout victory.

Luke Seidel’s bases-loaded single off Tyler Brinker with one out in the eighth put Fremd (16-5) up for good, ensuring Bennes’ exploits wouldn’t go for naught.

“That kid’s a stud,” Eiermann said of Bennes. “He wasn’t throwing hard, but he was hitting his spots and he could pitch. I don’t really know what else to say. But he was a good pitcher (Monday), a great pitcher.”

The Redhawks (12-10) face Warren at 10 a.m. Tuesday at North Central College, needing a victory to stay alive in the tournament.

Six days after striking out 13 in an extended relief stint at Neuqua Valley, the TCU-bound Eiermann fanned eight before giving way to Blake McClung to start the sixth.

The Vikings stranded two runners in the first, second, third and fifth innings to apply the pressure early and often.

But Eiermann, amidst his 83 pitches while operating on a pitch count between 75-80, was up to the task in getting out of trouble each time.

“At the beginning – like last week at Neuqua – I was able to throw fastballs,” he said. “We were trying to do that until they were able to hit them. That started happening, so we moved to the changeup. Then some pitches were thrown as changeups, but they couldn’t hit them. So we stuck to that and as the game went on, we were able to throw more pitches with location.”

Naperville Central got its leadoff runner on in four innings and had runners on the corners with two outs in the fourth after an error and Aaron Szczepanski single.

But Bennes proved to be worthy to that challenge by getting Gabe Soria to ground to the shortstop and end that threat.

After the missed opportunity to jump on the board first in the fourth, the Redhawks got a runner past first base only once – in the eighth – the rest of the way.

“You could tell everything moved,” Naperville Central coach Mike Stock said of Bennes’ repertoire. “From the last hitter to the first one, I don’t know if we squared up a ball the whole day. Off the end of the bat, off the fist, rolling over some things. I think everybody who pitched really competed well. Plus they made every play behind him.”

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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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