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The562’s coverage of St. Anthony athletics is sponsored by Jane & B.I. Mais, Class of 1949.
It just felt like Benny Lane’s game to win or lose.
St. Anthony led the CIF Southern Section Division 5 second round matchup with Jurupa Hills since the first inning when Lane’s long fly ball got them on the board, and the senior was on the mound when Jurupa Hills came back to score three in the seventh inning to force extra innings.
After Lane kept his team in the game with his arm, he used his bat to blast a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 12th inning to give the Saints a 4-3 win and a trip to the quarterfinals on Friday at Hillcrest.
“Benny saved the day, he’s been wearing a cape lately,” St. Anthony coach Kris Jondle said. “He’s really coming up big here in the playoffs for us.”
In the first round home win over Heritage, Lane pitched six innings and allowed one run while going 2/3 at the plate with two home runs and three RBIs. In the win over Jurupa Hills on Tuesday at Clark Field, Lane pitched another stellar six innings while giving up four hits and striking out five. At the plate, the senior reached base three times including his game-winning homer.
“I just had so much confidence in my team, they had my back throughout the whole game,” Lane said of persevering through the extra innings. “I started in the outfield and I could feel the energy given to our starting pitcher Jaylen Butler and I just fed off that. I’ve been here for four years and it’s always been that way. I just felt so much compassion and love for my team and I just knew that one way or another we were going to come out on top.”
Butler (6 IP, 2 R, 4 H, 4 BB) was fantastic on the mound and struck out three of the first six batters he faced by getting ahead early.
“I told myself that it was just another game and I just needed to pound strikes and do what I do best,” Butler said.
“His ball runs a lot and there’s enough velocity that he seems to miss barrels,” Jondle said of Butler. “He doesn’t have to nibble, the ball nibbles by itself. He just tries to throw strikes and it runs off the corner.”
The Saints defense was also there to help Butler with a trio of double plays. Two of them ended the fifth and sixth inning after sophomore catcher Owen Frazier threw out a would-be base stealer to end the third.
St. Anthony took its 3-0 lead in the first two innings thanks to good base running and Jurupa Hills errors. Junior second baseman Nick Galluccio led off with an infield single and stole second before scoring on Lane’s deep fly ball off the center fielder’s glove. Junior Austin Cassidy also scored in the first off third baseman Aidann Ruiz’ RBI single. In the second inning, sophomore Jason Glenn reached on a fielder’s choice and stole second before scoring on an error.
The Saints had chances to pad their lead with six hits against Jurupa Hills freshman starter Aaden Lopez, but senior Alejandro Preciado relieved him in the fifth inning and only allowed four hits while striking out six until Lane’s home run.
St. Anthony senior shortstop John Arnold reached base five times with three singles and three walks while batting seventh.
It looked like the Saints were headed towards a 3-0 win when Jurupa Hills chased Butler with consecutive singles to lead off the seventh inning. Lane came in and an error behind him allowed the visitors to score. Junior Antonio Banuelos and Lopez drove in the runs to tie the game 3-3 and force extra innings.
Both teams put the go-ahead and winning runs in scoring position in the eighth and ninth innings, but Lane and Preciado pitched their way out of the jams until Lane came to the plate to leadoff the bottom of the 12th inning almost four hours after the game started.
“I was looking for the fastball, I got the fastball and I knew I wasn’t going to miss it,” said Lane, who sent the 3-1 pitch over the right center field fence. “I immediately knew it was (gone) and I can honestly only give glory and thanks to God. I had a feeling. I was getting emotional in the last innings because deep down I felt like there was a plan for me. I knew that one way or another I was going to come through with it.”
Lane came around and jumped on home plate where his teammates were there to celebrate and dump water on their hero.
“He’s been leading us all year, so we had no doubt that he’d pull through,” Butler said.
“I did feel good and I was hoping he would do what he did,” said Jondle, who also wasn’t surprised that Lane was the star of the game again. “H’es been awesome all year. And he’s been doing it for four years as a starter. He works hard and has talent but he’s a team guy. He stayed inside the ball there on the home run and went to right center. Not trying to do too much and yank it into left field. He just stayed with it and took it the other way.”
Despite giving up the lead and struggling to score again late, Lane was encouraging his teammates throughout the extra innings.
“It’s that grind, it’s just a different mentality for us because I feel like we have something to prove,” Lane said. “Not a lot of people know about us and I feel like it’s our job to put ourselves on the map. The best way we can do that is to come to practice every day, work as hard as we can, and then come to the (game) and prove it.”
This will be the second quarterfinals appearance for St. Anthony in the last three years. The Saints will visit Hillcrest on Friday. First pitch is scheduled for 3:15 p.m.
