The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Clearview graduate working on his game
Clearview graduate spending summer with Ironmen after starting as a freshman at Toledo
Lorain native Antonio Bennett returned home to develop his game after a successful freshman season at the University of Toledo, and the shortstop is impressing coaches and fans with the Lorain County Ironmen this summer.
Bennett was a three-time All-Lorain County honoree and Morning Journal Player of the Year during his high school career at Clearview, hitting .656 his senior year to earn a first team All-Ohio selection in 2016.
As a freshman at Toledo, he earned the starting job at shortstop. He batted .230 with 11 RBI and scored 17 runs in the 2017 season.
Bennett admitted it was a big jump from playing at Clearview to facing Division I college pitching and hitting, but felt his freshman season was a good opportunity to learn what adjustments he needed to make.
“The game is a lot faster,” Bennett said.
“Just everything in general is a lot faster. You have to get rid of the ball faster. You can’t bobble the ball at all. The pitching is a lot better. They know you and really try to exploit your weaknesses. They don’t miss spots much.”
Bennett had hot and cold streaks throughout the season, but finished with nine hits in his final 13 games, a sign of growth with experience.
“It’s nice to be able to get all the jitters out of the way,” Bennett said. “You get used to it and you know what to expect now. You know what you have to work on more to be successful. I felt like a built a little bit of momentum at the end of the season, not as much as I wanted to, but that’s what next year is for.”
That’s also what this summer is for with the Ironmen. Bennett talked about some of the areas he’s working on with his summer club.
“I want to make my defense more fluent,” the shortstop said. “I also really want to improve my hitting. Those are my two main focuses.”
Ironmen head coach Kevin Whiteside believes the talent and athleticism are there for Bennett to do that.
“First of all, Antonio’s very athletic,” the coach said. “You’re talking about a kid that’s 6-foot-1, can play shortstop, can run and he’s got some sneaky pop. He has a lot of tools.”
Returning home to Lorain County gives Bennett the opportunity to play in front of more friends and family than at Toledo, something the righthanded hitter appreciates.
“It’s nice to be able to come back home after my first year at Toledo because it was a lot of transitioning,” Bennett said. “It’s really nice to be able to play in front of my hometown and have the support from everyone.”
Bennett has been one of the team’s better hitters, entering play on June 26 with a .420 on-base percentage, 10 RBI and five runs scored in 11 games.
He’s tallied three multihit games on the season. The Ironmen are 4-10, with all four wins coming in games in which Bennett played.
“When he’s doing the things he does best and when he’s locked in, he’s probably one of the better shortstops in our league,” Whiteside said. “When he’s got his mind right, he puts himself in that category and he’s a difference maker.”
Whiteside believes this can be a big year for Bennett to develop a more complete game, both from a mental and physical standpoint.
“Probably the biggest thing for him moving forward is just to continue to get stronger,” Whiteside said. “He’ll develop into a really good player. He’s getting a lot better. One thing you have to understand is Antonio just turned 19 years old a few weeks ago, so you’re talking about a kid who’s not far removed from high school. He’s learning to get better work habits and as he continues to mature and gets older, those things are going to come.”
Whiteside believes the sky is the limit.
“A year or two down the road, I think Antonio’s going to be a high draft pick for somebody, “he said.
“That’d be cool,” Bennett said when asked of the chances of getting drafted.
There’s quite a bit of baseball to be played between now and the time that dream can become reality, but right now, Bennett is focused on how he and the Ironmen can right the ship after a rocky start to the season.
“When we’re playing our best, we throw strikes, our defense makes plays and it’s not that we get a lot of runs, but we just get the key hits,” Bennett said. “We execute in the situations when we’re supposed to execute.”
Ironmen fall
Lorain County fell to Southern Ohio, 8-5, in 10 innings.
The Ironmen trailed, 4-1, through six innings. Bennett delivered a two-run single with the bases loaded to make it a one-run game in the bottom of the seventh.
The Copperheads answered in the eighth to make it 5-3.
Down by two, Bennett once again came through with an RBI double to make it 5-4.
Dominic Mittiga tied the game with an RBI groundout, scoring Michael Blatchford from third.
Bennett represented the winning run at third, but the Ironmen could not capitalize, sending the game to extra innings.