By Sean Duncan

ST. CHARLES ? Two of the best senior left-handers in the state. Upstate 8 River Division championship implications on the line. Yep, the Streamwood-St. Charles East matchup was the slam-dunk doubleheader to be at Saturday.

Only one problem: The two pitchers didn?t square off. St. Charles East?s Wes Benjamin pitched Game 1, while Streamwood opted to hold Villanova-bound Josh Harris for the second game. Not surprisingly, the two teams played to a split, with St. Charles East (15-5, 11-2) winning the morning game 8-2 and No. 7 Streamwood (15-2, 9-2) taking the second game 7-4.

Ho-hum.

Benjamin?s outing, however, was certainly attention-grabbing. The 6-foot-1, 170-pound Kansas recruit was spectacular in his complete-game victory. Benjamin (5-0) allowed four hits, no earned runs, struck out nine and walked one. Through four innings, his fastball sat at 86-88 mph with wicked arm-side run. Throughout the game, he went in tight to right-handed hitters and the ball ran back in for a strike. Benjamin didn?t start mixing in his sharp curveball and changeup until around the third inning, and once he started dropping in all three pitches for strikes, Streamwood?s hitters didn?t have much of a chance.

?My arm felt good today,? said Benjamin, who yielded three of his four hits in the second inning. ?I had a week?s rest, so I felt fresh and the defense made some good plays behind me.?

While Benjamin credited his defense for his gem, he thanked the forces of nature for his two-seam fastball?s sometimes two, three-inch run.

?I?m sure the wind had something to do with that,? Benjamin said.

Hardly.

St. Charles East gave Benjamin plenty of cushion early on, scoring seven runs in the first two innings. Sophomore Joe Hoscheit got the Saints going immediately with a leadoff home run, his fifth of the season, in the bottom of the first. Hoscheit, a physical 6-foot, 195-pound outfielder, went 3-for-4 with two RBI and two runs scored in Game 1, and had two hits, including a double, and two runs scored in the second game.

Senior first baseman Tony Rallo continued his torrid pace in the first game, going 3-for-4 with three RBI. For the season, the left-handed hitting Judson recruit has 40 RBI and eight home runs. Senior shortstop Luke Rojas added two hits, two RBI, two runs and made two top-level defensive plays in the field in Game 1.

In Game 2, however, St. Charles East?s defense didn?t make many plays at all. Scoreless through two, St. Charles East committed five errors in the third and fourth innings to help Streamwood pile on seven unearned runs. The Sabres scored four runs in the fourth inning courtesy of three errors, a drop-third strike, a balked-in run, and two hits.

Slick-fielding senior shortstop Nate Pearson dealt the biggest blow with a two-run single. Pearson scored two runs and tallied two hits in the second game.The runs were plenty for Harris (5-1) and the Sabres. Through four innings, Harris had recorded seven strikeouts behind an 84-87 mph fastball, but was also touched for seven hits in that span.

The two teams still have one more game to play in the series, rescheduled from Thursday?s rainout.