Benedictine awaited the winner of Saturday morning’s St.Christopher’s-Collegiate semifinal game, which was resumed after lightning on Friday, and brought their top-seed along with a 27-2 record to the affair.

After knocking off Collegiate, St. Christopher’s turned around to play Benedictine just mere hours later, but in this contest, the Saints would not come out on top, as Cadets wrapped up their fourth state title. With a 7-4 victory, Benedictine captured its second state in the last three seasons.

To get to this point though, Benedictine had to play a 14-inning affair against Norfolk Christian that spanned two nights, Tuesday and Wednesday, before their semi-final against Cape Henry.

“The week was not normal, to say the least,” Head Coach Sean Ryan said. “To play that first game against Norfolk Christian, that was really hard. They are such a talented team and the one benefit of them scrapping like they did was that we were able to take Casey Green out after 60 pitches so we felt like we could extend him tonight.”

Benedictine did start Green, after the low workload in the Norfolk Christian game, while St. Christopher’s put junior Patrick Routsis on the bump, with the State Championship at stake.

Green went six innings, pitching to a full pitch count before coming out for Jay Woolfolk, whereas Routsis went into the bottom of the sixth before being lifted for Jacob Carnley. Ryan wanted to take Green out prior to the sixth, but Green pulled a vintage Max Scherzer move and came back for the sixth.

“That happens more than you would hope,” Green said. “Sometimes you get to feeling good and I know that my arm feels good and my stuff tends to improve as the game goes on, and I don’t want to come out of the game because I feel like I can give us the best chance to win.

“After all the expectations we’ve had this year, and not being able to get it done last year, to prove it to everybody, it feels good.”

Green had not been feeling good previously, battling a month-long battle with pneumonia, even throwing up on Saturday morning.

“I’ve been struggling with it (pneumonia) for the past three or four starts, but it wasn’t so bad today,” Green explained. “You just go out and try to pitch well, and you can be successful without your best stuff.”

Offensively, the Cadets were led by Bennett Lloyd, their junior first baseman who accounted for three RBI, including the score to break a 4-4 tie in the bottom of the sixth, with Jack Anderson plating two more behind him to get to what was ultimately the final score of 7-4.

“I was just trying to get our team ahead, and fight for the last run,” said Lloyd. “I just tried to put it to the right side and do my job so our guys could get in. It’s been a hectic season. We play more games than a lot of other teams and it takes a toll on our bodies, but we power through it.”

Both teams slugged it out for the lead, with St. Christopher’s being up 3-0 going into the bottom of the third before Lloyd’s first RBI, and then Brett Cook tying it at three before Tate Gathright knotting the game at 4-4 before the sixth inning.

“It feels amazing, I thought it was an incredible baseball game,” Coach commented.” Anytime we match up against St. Christopher’s, we know it will be a really hard game, and a well-played game. The Saints played their hearts out.”

Jamari Baylor, Benedictine’s senior shortstop, was hit by two pitches in the game and played solid defense in his final High School game.

“It feels good, just being out here with the boys,” Baylor exclaimed. “We deserve this win and can’t love it enough.”

Benedictine closed out its storybook season at 28-2 overall.