It didn’t take the trio of Marty Dosen, Alec McEachern and Sean Gallagher long to grasp the significance of what they just played a big part in.
Thanks to its offense pounding out 12 runs on 11 hits to support Gallagher against eighth-seeded Wheaton North, 10th-seeded Benet came away with a 12-0, five-inning victory to lay claim to the Hinsdale South Regional.
The fourth straight victory this week for Scott Lawler’s Redwings sends them and Phil Lawler’s eldest son to the Phil Lawler Summer Classic for the first time ever.
“It’s pretty awesome,” said Marty Dosen, who had two hits and three RBIs as part of the offensive assault the Redwings pieced together against three Wheaton North pitchers. “It’s got to be awesome since it’s his dad’s tournament and Benet’s never got this far. It’s pretty sweet. Can’t wait to go to the tournament and see what we can do.”
Benet (16-7), which opens against South Elgin on Monday at North Central College, gets the chance to keep playing after a seven-run second spurred matters.
Ten hitters faced Falcons’ senior left-hander Ryan Almer in the second inning as Dosen and Alec McEachern, a pair of juniors, came up with a pair of big two-out hits.
A afternoon after coming through with two hits and four RBI in a victory over Metea Valley, McEachern was at it again.
With the Redwings already up 3-0 and the bases loaded with two outs, McEachern drilled a Almer offering to center, clearing the bases and giving Gallagher a 6-0 cushion to work with.
“We knew he was only throwing a curveball for a strike,” McEachern said of Almer. “That’s what Coach (Lawler) told me, so I sat on a curveball and drove it.”
Dosen’s RBI double to follow up McEachern concluded the scoring in the inning.
His two-run double two innings later increased the Redwings’ lead to 9-0 in the fourth and Alex Tassos’ two-run triple in the fifth helped round out the scoring during a three-run inning.
“I just tried to stay calm in the box because I haven’t been doing too well this week and I was just a little too eager,” Dosen said. “So I just tried to stay calm and get the pitch I could drive and do my best.”
In Redwing victories over Romeoville and Metea Valley on Tuesday and Wednesday, Mike Dunn and Joey Christensen provided Gallagher a road map to success.
He followed it to a T on his way to striking out five in his 4 1/3 innings as Dunn, Christensen and Gallagher combined to allow just one run in three games.
“I just tried to throw strikes, mix up the pitches, hit my locations,” Gallagher said.
Gallagher had no qualms waiting his turn to go back out to the mound to start the bottom of the second after his offense gave him seven runs to work with.
“They did a phenomenal job by giving me the run support that I needed,” he said.
