Benet Academy baseball enters off its second straight Regional Title, and now takes on Burlington Central in the Sectional Semifinals, also for a second straight season. The Rockets took down the Redwings in last year’s contest 5-0, allowing just four hits. With a win tonight, the Redwings can punch their ticket to the Super Sixteen against St. Francis. Benet sends out Northwestern commit, Jake Rifenburg. This highlight is sponsored by BMO.
Chase Powrozek and Jake Rifenburg begin a dominant day on the mound in the IHSA Baseball Sectional Semifinals
Burlington Central sends out Wisconsin-Parkside commit, Chase Powrozek, who threw 7 innings of shutout baseball in last year’s sectional semi, allowing just four hits and eight strikeouts.
He starts the day in command, recording two strikeouts in the opening inning. He gets one batter to look, and another swinging.
Moving to the top of the first, Benet sends out Northwestern commit, Jake Rifenburg, who started last year’s Sectional Semi against Rockets, allowing 7 hits, and five earned runs in three innings. The senior looks for revenge and starts his day well on the bump with a strikeout.
After a Quinn Rooney double and an Ethan Mendez walk, the Redwings have two runners on. However, Luke Stachowiak lines out to first baseman Connor Finn, who turns two with a throw to second!
Moving to the top of the third, Nikolas Schaefer steps up, and leads off the inning with a double deep into centerfield.
After a sac bunt put runners on the corners for Benet, the Redwings are threatening, but get denied by Powrozek. The senior pitcher throws two strikeouts to escape the jam, and we head to the bottom half of the inning.
Benet and Burlington Central keep fighting as both sides look to break the deadlock
Jake Johnson steps up for the Rockets, and he sends one way out to center. Redwing, Josh Gugora tracks it down, and leaps up for a nice catch.
Then, Rifenburg records his fourth strikeout of the afternoon by painting the bottom right corner.
The southpaw also shows off a little defense, knocking down a liner and throwing it to first to close the third inning.
Redwings have a runner on first with no outs, but not for long. Powrozek throws out Gugora at first. This fuels him to a dominant inning, first with a strikeout down low, and then he throws a heater up high.
Moving to the bottom of the fifth, Wagner Viebrock steps up for the Rockets and records their second hit of the day.
Rifenburg and the Benet defense lock in, as the senior pitcher gets another strikeout here in the fifth. Then, in the bottom of the sixth, Rifenburg continues to shine, as he records his seventh K of the day! We’re still scoreless.
Redwings hold off a rally from the Rockets and come up clutch in extra innings
Moving along–with two outs, Burlington Central has a runner on in the bottom of the seventh. Viebrock delivers again, and the Rockets have a chance to win it in the final inning.
The Redwing ace delivers in a big moment, as Rifenburg throws one with movement for the K, and he’s hyped! 7 innings isn’t enough for anyone to score, as we head into extras with a spot in the Super Sixteen on the line.
After a 1-2-3 in the top half, we’re now into the bottom of the eighth. Johnson connects on one out to left, where Nikolas Schaefer runs in for a great sliding catch! If he misses that, Johnson very well could be at third base!
Merrick Sullivan leads off the top of the ninth for Benet, and he says goodbye to the baseball! Sullivan sends it over the fence in left, and gives us the first run of the game with one swing of the bat! It gets the Redwing faithful on their feet.
Benet looks to continue, and Luke Wildes does just that with the next at-bat. He sends one down the left field line and runs into second for a double.
On the bunt attempt by Gugora, Wildes forces a throwdown, as the catcher sends it to second, but Wildes takes off for third! The throw from second to third is off, and that allows Wildes to cruise home to make it 2-0 Redwings!
After a Gugora single, sophomore Daniel Koertgen is now pitching for the Rockets. The Redwings show some heads-up baserunning, as Stachowiak brings the attention between first and second, which allows Gugora to run from third to home! Stachowiak is caught on the basepaths, but the Redwings now lead 3-0 after a big ninth inning.
Benet baseball closes it out in the bottom of the ninth against Burlington Central and now faces St. Francis in the IHSA Sectional Final
Bottom of the ninth, and Rooney fields it at first, and throws to Rifenburg for the first out of the inning. It also marks the final batter for Rifenburg, who throws 8.1 innings of shutout baseball, throwing 9 strikeouts, and allowing just three hits!
Jonathon Rossi steps in to close it for Benet, and the senior delivers in the big moment. He records the final two outs in fashion, with two strikeouts! First gets one looking, and then the dropped third strike to end it!
The Redwing bats may have arrived late, but they still delivered! Benet Academy baseball hangs on for a 3-0 win over Burlington Central in the Sectional Semis. Benet now takes on St. Francis in the Final on Saturday, a team that the Redwings beat on a walkoff at last year’s Regional Championship.
For more prep sports highlights, visit the Naperville Sports Weekly page!
