Lights Out

Benet coach Jeff Bonebrake saved his ace pitcher for this regional championship game, and Roberts delivered a complete-game performance in a 4-1 victory over Wheaton Warrenville South on Saturday in Lisle.

Roberts struck out the side twice, did not allow a walk or an extra-base hit and responded to pressure situations against the program that beat him 4-1 during last year's regional final.

The Illinois recruit escaped a first-and-third, no-out jam in the fifth by getting a strikeout and a double play. Clinging to a 3-1 lead, Roberts then notched another crucial strikeout in the sixth, with runners on second and third.

"Bryan was lights out," Bonebrake said afterward.

Bonebrake elected to start No. 2 pitcher John Boyle in the regional semifinal against Plainfield North, and the move paid dividends two days later.

"We have a lot of confidence in (Boyle)," Benet left fielder Matt Vanchieri said. "We obviously knew the matchup...We thought (Boyle) matched up well enough to where we could save Bryan for the regional championship game.

"We thought it was (a) great idea too. We stood behind our coaches."

Roberts benefited from enough clutch hits, whether it was Vanchieri reaching for a two-run triple in the fourth, Pat Gelwicks smacking a two-out RBI double to the wall in the fifth, or Mike Chmielewski pounding another two-out RBI double the next inning. All three are juniors in a program with only a handful of seniors.

"It's been great for us, to get these big hits in the late innings. It shows a lot of character for our team," Roberts said. "We're a young team. To have (these) young kids come up in big spots, and just get that hit, is huge for us."

The Tigers couldn't produce a similar moment. WW South pitcher/third baseman Nick Brown, an Iowa recruit, and Roberts are good friends, offseason teammates and future Big 10 opponents. Brown said WW South hadn't seen a pitcher throw like that all season.

"He had all the pitches goin' for him," Brown said of Roberts. "He knows how to pitch."

Roberts didn't actually need to use his curveball that much in ringing up 14 strikeouts. WW South was chasing high fastballs early, and after working up and down, Roberts began stretching the edges of an already elastic strike zone.

"We kept going inside and outside, and that's just a whole nother dimension," Benet catcher Matt O'Rourke said. "We kept mixin' it in and out...If I called a fastball in, he put it right there."

The formula is pretty simple at this point.

"We know with B-Rob, again, we got a really good shot. And if we play good defense and we get a big hit - like we did - we'll win," O'Rourke said.