Benedictine topples Lake in NCL opener

Benedictine coach John Ellis entered the 2018 spring hopeful the Bengals’ returning experience would begin to translate into more wins.

April 9 at Case Western Reserve’s Nobby’s Ballpark, Benedictine reinforced Ellis’ optimism. After the Bengals dropped five games on their spring break trip to Easley, S.C., Benedictine opened North Coast League play with a 3-1 victory against Lake Catholic.

Junior pitcher Billy Boehlke, a cornerstone for the Bengals’ improvement, limited the Cougars to a run in seven innings. He also delivered a RBI double in the fifth inning after Lake Catholic drew within a run.

“He gave us what a No. 1 was going to give us,” Ellis said. “We’ve been working at it, this is his third year as a starter in the NCL.”

The Cougars loaded the bases in the first inning before Boehlke struck Matt Nicklas out looking to strand all three runners. Boehlke prevented a runner from advancing into scoring position until the fifth, when Jack Lausin singled and stole second. Lausin crossed home on Andrew Druzina’s RBI single to cut the Bengals’ lead to one, 2-1.

Matthew Stauffer opened the home fifth with a single and moved to second on Maxwell Monachino’s bunt. Boehlke dropped a double over the center fielder for a 3-1 lead, and the Cougars encroached no further.

The right-hander struck Logan McNutt out looking to close out the victory. Boehlke (1-1) allowed a run and six hits in seven innings. He struck out three and walked one.

At the plate, Boehlke finished 2-for-3 with his RBI double.

“Anytime you get a win as a pitcher it’s good, regardless of who it’s against,” Boehlke said. “We’ll just take it from here and hope for the best.”

Daniel Keenan collected two hits and scored a pair of runs for the Bengals. He led off the second with a single and scored from third on a throwing error for a 1-0 Benedictine lead. Keenan singled again in the fourth and a wild pitch sent him home as the Bengals led, 2-0, headed to the fifth.

Benedictine supported Boehlke’s outing with timely plays in the field. Second baseman Joseph Prevesk’s sliding stop of Sam Melnyk’s grounder ended the sixth inning after Lake Catholic put two runners on base. Nick Demchuk’s diving grab at shortstop of Ryan Boruszkowki’s line drive in the seventh erased a leadoff runner when Demchuk fired back to first to double off a runner who took off on contact.

After the Bengals went 10-17 a season ago, Ellis has seen indications of progress early in 2018.

“We took our lumps the last two years,” Ellis said. “I’m not going to sit here and say we’re the best team out there but I think our ceiling is pretty darn high.”

James Walsh pitched six innings for Lake Catholic. The left-hander allowed three runs — two earned — and six hits. He struck out seven in a performance coach Dennis Woods called his best of the season.

The Cougars host their league foe again April 10. Woods would’ve liked to see his team capitalize on its bases-loaded situation in the first inning, but wasn’t discouraged by Lake Catholic’s effort in near-freezing conditions.

“If we could’ve got one, I think it would’ve been a different kind of ballgame,” Woods said. “It was a great game. I told the kids, I’m not disappointed. We hit the ball hard, they made the plays.”