By Paul Gotham
ROCHESTER, N.Y. – For the second time in as many days Monroe Community College’s Tribunes showed a penchant for finishing strong. Perhaps it is a sign of things to come.
Nick DiBenedetto (Nanuet, N.Y./Nanuet) earned his fourth victory of the season, and Jimmy Latona (Chili, N.Y./Churchville-Chili) paced a 12-hit attack as MCC (19-18/3-7) took the nightcap of a doubleheader (2-3/11-1) with the Mercyhurst North East Saints (19-8/5-1) in WNYAC action, Thursday.
DiBenedetto allowed one run on five hits as he struck out two and walked two over five innings.
“I was really spotting my fastball well,” the sophomore right-hander said. “My change up came back.”
DiBenedetto worked out of pair jams getting a double play in the in the second after allowing the first two batters to reach. In the fourth, Alex Saville (Verona, N.Y./ Vernon-Verona-Sherrill) caught Sabatino Dinardo (Pittsburgh, PA/Central Catholic) in a rundown between first and second.
“I’ve been working on my change up a lot lately,” DiBenedetto said when talking about what he used to get ground balls. “It’s come back, and I started throwing it for strikes again and getting batters with it.”
“Nick’s getting through that hurdle of not having his best stuff and making it work,” coach Dave Brust said. “He just battled, pitched to contact and got 100 percent from what he had.”
Monroe batted around in the first and never looked back.
Latona walked to start it in a stanza where Sjaghbar Martis (Willemstad, Curacao/Trinity Christian Academy) brought home Connor Lewis (Brampton, Ontario/ St. Marguerite d’Youville) and Rayshelon Carolina (Willemstad, Curacao/ St. Jozef Academy) with a single to center. Saville followed with a triple to plate Martis and Ellington Hopkins (Lansing, N.Y./Lansing). Tommy LaCongo (Orchard Park, N.Y./Orchard Park) capped the inning with an RBI groundout.
Latona sparked the Tribune offense from there with his third multi-hit game of the season and first in conference play.
“I saw the ball a lot better,” Latona commented.
The freshman finished 2-for-2 with two walks, three runs scored and two RBI in the second game and 3-for-4 with three walks for the two games. He credited work with Brust who referred to a hall-of-famer for help.
“He showed me videos of Cal Ripken,” Latona explained. “He had his stance closed and his front foot was way ahead of his back foot. You let ball travel and see it deep. It helped me out today.”
Latona tripled and scored in the fourth and followed with another three-bagger in the fifth. This time his two-out rap plated LaCongo and Brett Sanders (Greece, N.Y./Greece Olympia).
“At first I thought the kid at short was going to make a play because it wasn’t very high off the ground,” Latona noted. “I thought I had to beat it out in case he made a play, so I didn’t make the last out. It got past him, and I got going.”
“I made a couple of suggestions, and it worked,” Brust said. “Ultimately, Jimmy is a good hitter.”
Lewis, who had the game-winner Wednesday, followed with an RBI single, and Hopkins brought home Lewis for the win.
Monroe left nine runners on base in the first game including seven in scoring position.
“Game one was just like any one-run ball game,” Brust commented. “Little mistakes will haunt you.”
Monroe scored single runs in the fourth and sixth but came away with nothing in the third after loading the bases with one out. The Tribs also put the leadoff man on in the fifth and seventh and came away empty-handed.
“We’ve spent a lot of time on situation hitting,” Brust said. “As we get older, as we get more confident, we will cash in on that.”
Lewis singled and eventually scored in the fourth on an RBI base hit from Angel Rosario (Bridgeport, CT/Bullard Havens). The freshman shortstop doubled and scored on a Saville hit in the sixth.
Dylan Sheffer (Penfield, N.Y./Penfield) took the game-one loss. The usually sharp right-hander struggled with his command at times and allowed three runs (two earned) on four hits, two walks and two hit by pitch.
“I knew Sheff was going to go the whole route,” Brust said. “At times it looks like he’s teetering, but you can tell he’s a baseball player. He never surprises me when he makes big pitches or keeps competing.”
Mercyhurst looked to have jumped to an early lead when Dinardo connected for what appeared to be a three-run home run in the second. But the ball was ruled foul. The Saints eventually grounded into a double play and only scored one run in the frame.
The Saints pushed a run across in the fourth on a two-out double steal. Austin Alonge (Westfield, N.Y./Westfield) walked to lead the sixth and advanced to third when Bobby Dragon (Ashtabula, OH/Edgewood) found a hole with a hit-and-run single. Sheffer got the double play ball, but Alonge came home.
Lewis collected four hits in eight trips to the plate with four runs scored and one RBI on the afternoon. He now has three multi-hit games in a row.
Hopkins had two hits including a double, one walk, an RBI and a run scored.
Rosario had two hits and an RBI.
Carolina went 3-of-7 with a walk, RBI and a run scored.
Saville accounted for two hits, one walk, three RBI and one run.
The Tribunes travel to Onondaga Community College on Friday for two and Mercyhurst for two on Saturday.
Leave a Reply