By Drake Skleba

 

LISLE ? No.1 Providence Catholic knew it would be in for a fight from regional host Benet Academy. Back on April 9, in the Southside Conference Challenge, Providence scored twice in the top of the seventh to beat the pesky Redwings 3-1.

 

On Saturday, the Redwings were just as pesky. But behind a combined shutout by senior LHP Matt Trowbridge (7-0) and fellow senior LHP Collin McEnery, Providence survived and advanced 3-0 to win the Benet Academy Regional.

 

With the win, the Celtics (33-3) move on to the Class 4A Neuqua Valley Sectional and face the hosts, Neuqua Valley (25-10), in Naperville on Thursday at 4:30.

 

?We had good pitching and defense today,? said Trowbridge. ?I wasn?t very impressive today, but in the playoffs it?s all about surviving and advancing.?

 

Providence picked up a pair of unearned runs against Benet senior RHP Nick Moore (0-5) in the bottom of the third. A wild pitch and a Redwing miscue led to the two Celtic runs.

 

In the Celtic fifth, second baseman Kevin DeFilippis smashed a double and future Indiana University 3B Sam Travis drove him in with an RBI single to give the Celtics a 3-0 lead. Travis was on base all three times with a pair of walks.

 

In the Benet seventh, Trowbridge walked a pair of Redwings with one out. Providence head coach Mark Smith went to his pen and brought McEnery in from first base. McEnery picked up the second out of the inning on a fine 3-1 play with new Celtic 1B Nick Gould, who fielded a grounder at first and flipped to the alert McEnery for the out. McEnery made things exciting by walking Benet senior 2B Andrew Jachna to load the bases.

 

With the large and vociferous Redwing crowd screaming for a long one, McEnery induced Moore to roll to shortstop Joe Houlihan, who fired a strike to Gould to end this one.

 

?Matt really pitched great for us today,? said McEnery. ?I really wanted to go out and nail down this win for him.?

 

For Providence, the Celtics return to the sectionals after a year hiatus in 2010. In 2009 as the No. 16 seed, the Celtics shocked the state by advancing all the way to the sectional finals, before falling to Naperville Central.

 

?We needed a big game from Matt today because of the quality performance by Moore,? said Smith. ?Matt gave us that game and Collin did a great job of getting the save. We have to get better but we survived today.?

 

Benet Academy bows out at 18-19 for the 2011 campaign. Earlier in the day, the Redwings crushed Hinsdale South 12-0 in five innings, in a regional semifinal.

 

?Nick pitched a great game for us today against the best team in the state,? said

Benet Academy head coach Jeff Bonebrake. ?We just couldn?t get the big hit today.?