By Paul Gotham
ROCHESTER, NY — Ellington Hopkins (Lansing, NY/Lansing) went looking for redemption. The freshman found it in a pair of late-inning hits.
Hopkins delivered a game-tying single and eventually scored the clincher in extra innings as the Monroe Community College Tribunes rebounded to sweep the Erie Community College Kats (9-4/9-8) in WNYAC action on Tribunes Field, Saturday afternoon.
Hopkins sent the night cap into extra innings with a one-out single through the right side of the infield plating Alex Saville (Vernon, NY/Verona-Sherrill). But the infielder knew it was his responsibility. After a fielding miscue in the top half of the frame, Hopkins wanted a chance to make up for it.
“I felt a little bit of redemption,” Hopkins said. “Earlier in the half inning before that, I had thrown one short. That’s how they got their two runs. I felt like I had to get those runs back for my team the best that I could. I saw the infield in. I just wanted to hit it hard.”
Hopkins helped seal the victory in the 10th with a lead off double down the right field line.
“I just knew I had to get it started for the team,” Hopkins stated. “I knew if I came out and hit the ball hard, good things would happen.”
The late-inning hit was the second in the last week for Hopkins who keyed a late-inning rally over Genesee Community College with a triple.
“That says a lot about him,” said first-year head coach Dave Brust. “He’s clearly a clutch player who knows the expectations are high. He competes at a different level.”
With Hopkins on second, Tim Segrue (Honeoye Falls-Lima) reached on a bunt single, and pinch-hitter Jimmy Latona (Churchville-Chili) loaded the bases when he was hit by a pitch.
Hunter Merrill (Pittsford, NY/Pittsford-Sutherland) delivered the game-winner with a single through a drawn infield for the walkoff win.
“First thing I think about when I see that is I want to hit the first pitch,” Merrill explained. “There were no outs. I was just going to put it in play. Anywhere would have been nice, but it went up the middle.”
Davio Caquias (Penfield, NY/Penfield) came on in relief for the win. The right-hander retired the last ten he faced, seven on ground balls.
“His release is effective,” Brust said of his sidearm reliever. “He doesn’t get nervous. His strength is he knows who he is.”
Tommy LaCongo (Orchard Park, NY/ Orchard Park) staked the Tribs to a 1-0 lead in the second with a home run to left.
Jerry Hanson tripled home a pair of runs in a three-run fourth as Erie grabbed its first lead of the afternoon at 3-1.
Monroe tallied five times in the fourth for a 6-3 lead.
Saville started the inning with a one-out single to left center. Segrue had an RBI single. Merrill brought home a run with a bunt for a base hit. Rayshelon Carolina (Willemstad, Curacao/St. Jozef) doubled home a run, and Connor Lewis (Ontario, Canada/St. Marguerite D’Youville) capped the outburst with a two-bagger to right center scoring two.
But the Kats took advantage of Monroe’s generosity to take an 8-6 lead. Tribune relievers issued five walks and hit a pair of batters over the next two frames as Erie tied the game and inched ahead.
Matt Lahn led the Erie seventh with a double. Hopkins retired the next batter on a ground ball, but on the ensuing play the third baseman threw the ball into the turf allowing the Lahn to cross the plate and allowing the Kats to grab the two-run lead.
Sjaghbar Martis (Trinity Chrisitian Academy) paced the Tribunes to a 4-0 lead in the opener with a bases-loaded triple in the second. Angel Rosario (Bridgeport, CT/Bullard Havens) started the stanza with a single to right. Latona blooped a single into center, and Max Franzone (Pawling, NY/Trinity-Pawling) walked to load the bases.
Martis slammed a first-pitch fastball into right center.
“There were no outs and the game was scoreless,” Martis recalled. “I was looking for a good pitch to get that first run in.”
Martis came home when Ryan Prevost (Greece, NY/Greece Athena) reached on an error.
The Black and Gold added five in the fifth with Franzone, Carolina and Brett Sanders (Greece, NY/Greece Olympia) collecting RBI hits.
Dylan Sheffer (Penfield, NY/Penfield) started and pitched four complete. The right-hander got out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the fourth retiring three consecutive batters o infield pop flies.
Rosario finished with four hits in five trips on the afternoon. The sophomore outfielder stole three bases.
Saville collected two hits including a triple.
Monroe improves to 6-1 on the fall season. The Tribunes host Niagara County Community College next Sunday. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m. at Tribunes Field.
The MCC baseball program will honor pioneering head coach H. David Chamberlain in a special tribute on Saturday, Sept. 21, at Tribunes Field.
The ceremony will be part of MCC’s Alumni Week and Homecoming. The Tribunes will also take on the University of Rochester in a doubleheader that day.
Festivities are set to begin at 11 am on the 21st with a dedication ceremony to begin at 11:30 a.m. honoring Coach Chamberlain and his longtime assistant Coach Jack Christensen along with a dedicating of Tribune Baseball Monument Park.
Coach Chamberlain started the MCC baseball program and led the Tribunes for 33 years, compiling a record of 735-232. He is an MCC and NJCAA Hall of Famer.
Paul Gotham is the Communications and Media Director for the New York Collegiate Baseball League. Paul is the founder, owner, editor and lead writer at Pickin’ Splinters. His work has been featured on Seamheads.com, BruceSpringsteen.net and GoBonnies.com. His book,Everybody On, Nobody Out, chronicles the hope and possibility in the New York Collegiate Baseball League. He will also appear in USA Today’s 2013 College Basketball Preview. You can follow Paul on Twitter @PickinSplinters.
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