Bennie Baseball producing quality ballplayers

With another season of Bennie Baseball nearly in the books, there have been some significant changes to the local elite organization, but one thing hasn’t changed.

Brothers Joe and Robert Bennie still schedule challenging competitions capable of handing their teams some losses.

Yet the Bennie Boys — and now Girls — just keep on winning.

“We want to compete at the biggest events and in a sense we’re trying to find losses,” Joe Bennie said in a telephone interview from a tournament in Cincinnati. “We’re trying to find tournaments where we’re facing teams which are just as good as us at the worst and teams that are way better than us. We want to have to play a perfect game to have a shot at winning. I think where mistakes can really cost you is when growth happens.

“It’s not about wins and losses with us, it’s about how you win and how you lose. Learning how to win the right way is more important.”

Bennie teams have been doing that since the former Beloit Snappers players started the program five years ago, headquartered in a converted warehouse in South Beloit. There are currently 120 players on nine boys teams (9U, 10U, 11U, 12U, 13U, 14U Black, 14U Gold, 15U, 16U) and one girls 12U team.

“Our 12U boys team won a state championship,” Bennie said. “Our 13U is getting invited to national level events and doing well. Players like Cruz Cook, Landon Hahn, Braxton Bruns are special talents. They’ll be at the top of their graduation class in a few years.

“Our 11U team is one of the best in-house teams in the county, excluding the scout teams that meet up just to play on weekends. The 15U Gold team is also one of the best teams and they’ve probably been one of the best for the past five years. They’ve been invited to play in events at the University of Tennessee, the University of Indiana twice, Purdue and the University of Notre Dame. They’ve played on their fields, toured their facilities and met their coaching staffs. That group has had a lot of special opportunities due to the success they’ve had.”

The program keeps the Bennies on the move throughout the summer.

“I basically follow the Gold team everywhere,” Bennie said. “It’s been a little crazy going non-stop every weekend. But it’s been fun.”

The Bennies have branched out to include a girls fastpitch softball team with Jason Clutter as head coach.

“That team has been incredible,” Bennie said. “They have over 80 wins and are ranked first in Illinois and 11th in the nation.”

The Bennies are also looking at expanding both the boys and girls programs, but never adding more than one team at an age division.

“We’re not going to force things,” Bennie said. “We want every player regardless of the team to get the right amount of attention. We don’t want to sacrifice that just to add more teams.”

The Bennies still operate out of the same facility that they began with five years ago, but have renovated it to make the best use of the available space.

“We utilize the facility very well,” Bennie said. “When we designed the cage system we knew exactly how we wanted to run our practices/ There is pitching development, hitting development and catching development. We utilize every square inch of the facility and kids are getting quality reps. There is no standing around. We use it Monday through Sunday. We don’t rent the cages out. Players get free access to them during business hours to come in and get swings in.”

For outdoor practices in the spring and summer, the Bennie teams use Pohlman Field, Leeson Park and Krueger Park in Beloit and McKearn Park in the Town of Beloit.

“That’s a big difference between us and some of our competitors that don’t practice outside,” Bennie said. “They have these big indoor facilities and everything they do is inside. You can really see it on the field. Their players aren’t hitting cut-offs or making the right relays. We are very sound defensively. We really develop that in practice in the spring and summer.

“Every year is a growth plan for each age group. Where our 14U players are at and how we’re developing them is completely different from the plan we have for our 10U and 11U players. Each year, you take a step up the ladder. We’re always building off the previous year.”

The biggest jump is likely from 9U to 10U.

“It’s a big jump from year one to year two,” Bennie said. “The players get used to the structure and the standards we have and how we run things. There is a learning curve. We’re trying to teach them the small details of the game. Year two and three you really see the kids getting comfortable and growing into themselves as players. That’s where it really gets fun.”

A number of players have stayed with the program since day one, including Beloit catcher Callen Espinoza and South Beloit pitcher/infielder Richard “Butters” Carlson on the 15U Gold team. Espinoza is ranked as the No. 1 catcher in the class of 2026 in Wisconsin. Carlson, who recently hit a 400-foot homer in a tournament at Notre Dame, is also one of the top pitching prospects in his class.

They have taken different paths in high school. Carlson chose as a freshman to become the ace for the South Beloit High School varsity team. Espinoza decided to play for a travel team in Iowa in the spring.

“There’s value to what both are doing,” Bennie said. “There’s no right or wrong. We want them to do what’s best for them. I tell Butters that if he wants to represent his school, that’s great. He can transform that program. He can draw more attention to it and get more kids to want to play high school baseball. As a freshman he was probably already the best player in that school’s history.

“Callen decided not to play high school ball and play on weekends in a very competitive spring league. The rest of the time he’s working on his own. I think both he and Butters will eventually be recruited by Power-5 schools.”