Key hits make the difference for Benet

Updated: April 7, 2011 4:04PM

It only took three key at-bats Tuesday night for the Benet baseball team to break open its game against West Chicago.

Redwings junior Zac Lewinski hit a sac fly in the first inning and a two-run single in the second, while sophomore Kevin Jendra hit a pinch two-run single in the fifth as Benet picked up a 6-4 victory as the nightcap to the DVC-ESCC Suburban Challenge at Benedictine University.

"We had some guys swing the bats and get some big hits," Benet coach Jeff Bonebrake said. "I'm not really happy with how we pitched – nine walks and we hit four guys. It gave them opportunities. We have to clean that up a little bit. But we did hit the ball pretty well and that gave us a little bit of a cushion where we could do those things."

Redwings starting pitcher Bobby Hayes allowed one run over 3 2/3 innings, while the defense turned two timely double plays to back the winning effort.

"I think we threatened almost every inning, had runners on, but they got themselves out of the innings with double plays," Wildcats coach Dan McCarthy said. "That's baseball. You can only give your team an opportunity to score and we had those chances, we just didn't get the big hit when we needed to."

Hunter Serrato (2-for-2) hit a solo homerun to right in the bottom of the third for the Wildcats (5-3), but two errors and seven walks by West Chicago pitchers allowed Benet (5-3) to put runners in scoring positions at the opportune moments.

"I was just trying to stay back," said Lewinski about his second at-bat. "He threw two nice curveballs at the beginning so I just wanted to stay back and get a big hit for the team, put one in the gap which gave us a nice little lead."

Jendra's opposite field hit to left just over the shortstop loomed large in the bottom of the seventh when the Wildcats scratched two runs across following Serrato's leadoff walk, a double by Josh Gimre, a passed ball and an RBI groundout by Danny Sills.

"Any time there's a sophomore that comes up to varsity, you want them to have confidence at the plate," Lewinski said. "He put the ball in play, he's a great player. He got a big hit today and it's nice to see."

A walk and a single by Nick Driscoll following the second inning made things interesting, but Redwings reliever Mike Luca was able to strike out Wildcats leadoff hitter Jerrick Habecker for the final out.

"I was a little nervous, but I had full confidence our pitchers would get it done," Lewinski added. "We squeaked out of here with a good victory."

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