By Kalle Oakes,Staff Writer

MONMOUTH – Monmouth Academy was a close pitch and one or two funny hops away from avoiding the preliminary round of the Western Class C baseball tournament entirely.

It’s hard to say if the Mustangs are upset about not packing away enough Heal Points to earn a bye, but they dispensed with that habit of walk-off wins and losses by bidding bye-bye to Madison as quickly as possible.

No. 5 Monmouth scored four runs in the bottom of the fifth inning and plated four more in the sixth to punctuate a 13-3 victory at Chick Field by virtue of the mercy rule.

Backed by an infield steeped in sophomores and freshmen, including his ninth-grade catcher, senior right-hander Ben Seefeldt hurled a complete-game gem for the Mustangs. Seefeldt allowed only two hits after the first inning, five in all. He struck out five and walked one.

“I’m better now,” said Monmouth coach Eric Palleschi. “That’s a scary team. We just put the ball in play, and Benny threw his game. He didn’t really have his best stuff, but he’s a gamer.”

Seefeldt’s first-year battery mate, Erik Smith, backed up his tournament-tested pitcher by belting a two-run double in the fifth and throwing out a would-be base stealer for only the second time all season in the sixth.

Sophomore third baseman Eric Murphy went 2-for-3 with a double, one of the Mustangs’ six extra-base hits. Ricky Pelletier also delivered a pair of hits, and Cameron Saucier ripped a triple.

Monmouth (11-4) advances to a Thursday quarterfinal at No. 4 Jay. The Tigers handed Monmouth one of their two seventh-inning losses in Mountain Valley Conference play.`

“We lost four games by a total of five runs,” Palleschi said. “That’s the nice thing (about the playoff bracket). We know a lot about these teams, and our pitchers are able to use that information.”

Joe Dwyer and Dan Kalagher each slapped an RBI single in the first inning for Madison (4-12).

Seefeldt settled in after that, retiring seven consecutive Bulldogs in one stretch and six straight in another.

He said his game plan of trying to nibble the corners and make Madison chase outside pitches was prompted by the teams’ regular-season encounter, when the Mustangs enjoyed another double-digit win with Nate Armstrong on the hill.

“I felt good. They just got some hits,” Seefeldt said. “We’ve been hitting the ball well lately. It’s just coming along. We’ve been rising all year long.”

Ronnie Hobson’s leadoff double and a two-out single by Pelletier pulled Monmouth within a run in the first. Armstrong reached on the first of Madison’s six errors ahead of Murphy’s game-tying double in the second.

Pelletier triggered the two-run rally in the third with a double. He scored on an error to give the Mustangs the lead for good.

Jason Wallace pitched into the fifth inning for the Bulldogs. Six of his eight runs were unearned.

While Madison’s relief corps struggled for outs, Palleschi had no qualms about letting one of his best arms go the route. Seefeldt won’t be eligible on Thursday, when Scott Ogden will get the call.

“We had six different pitchers get a win out of 10 regular-season wins,” Palleschi said. “We had one stretch where we played six games in seven days and went 5-1, and we only had one guy start two of the games. I don’t really have a No. 1. I’ve got a 1A, a 1B and a 1C.”