Annable and Stirpe key rally as Hilton edges Fairport

By PAUL GOTHAM

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Jeff Murphy and his Hilton Cadets can commiserate with the Fairport Raiders after Monday’s Monroe County League crossover matchup. Not that the Cadets plan to give this victory back any time soon.

Jack Annable and David Stirpe keyed a five-run fifth, and Hilton rallied to edge Fairport, 6-5, Monday.

“We’ve lost four of six games by a run,” Murphy said. “It’s nice to get one of those.”

Annable and Stirpe delivered two-run hits in the inning.

“Our guys really battled,” Stirpe said. “We strung some hits together. It feels great.”

Chase Metzger started the rally with a one-out base hit. Justin Resseguie followed with a single through the left side of the infield, and John Chiappone beat out a sacrifice bunt to load the bases.

“That got the momentum going their way,” Fairport coach Brian Reed said of Chiappone’s hit. “We didn’t come up with that clean, and they took advantage.”

Stirpe knotted the score at two with another single through the left side.

“I was early so many times my other two at bats I just wanted to stay back,” Stirpe explained. “I didn’t stay back long enough but it got through.”

One out later, Hilton catcher and Manhattan College commit, Dominic Palma, was intentionally walked setting the stage for Annable.

“I was excited,” Annable said. “It gave me a chance to get a hit after a couple rough at bats. Got guys on base so it was just timely that I was up. Didn’t really get any warm up swings because of the intentional walk. It was a first pitch change up. Just took it into left field.”

With runners on the corners, Palma scampered home as part of a double steal.

“We got guys stepping up big time,” Murphy said. “It’s a different guy each game that’s stepping up. It’s good to see.”

Michael Murphy picked up the win. The senior right-hander tossed five and a third allowing four runs on nine hits while striking out five and walking two.

“He did a real nice job keeping those guys off balance and did a really nice job of throwing strikes and keeping the ball down and relying on his defense,” the Hilton coach said of his starter. “That’s what we talk about all the time. He’s had some rough luck too with not getting a lot of run support. I’m happy to see he got a little support today.”

Brian Wolf came on in relief with two on and one in and retired the next two batters to end the inning.

“They’re not going to overpower anyone those two,” Jeff Murphy said of his pitchers. “You throw those guys once in a while and you keep them off balance. They did a nice job of that.”

Chiappone scored the eventual winning run in the seventh. He started the stanza with his second hit of the game and moved to second on a ground ball. After a wild pitch, Chiappone came home on Max Hendry‘s pinch out ground out.

“That was a good win,” Murphy said. “We’ve been inconsistent, but we’re playing much better ball. Kids played really well. Had some timely hitting.”

Matt Buss gave Fairport a 1-0 lead in the first with a two-out RBI single.

The Raiders made it 2-0 in the third. Chad Riorden singled over the third base bag and stole second second. Chris Rizzolo put runners on the corners with an opposite field hit to left, and Mike Sabatine came through with an RBI sacrifice fly.

Sam Gueli chased Michael Murphy with an RBI double to left in the sixth. Jake Rugaber added another run with a sacrifice fly.

Fairport cut the lead to one in the seventh when TJ Lucey connected on one of his three hits in the game.

“TJ did a great job of having disciplined at bats up there,” Reed said. “That’s one of the things that we talked about especially if you have the advantage in the count. You’re looking for fastballs. He did a great job with it. He was throwing a lot of off-speed stuff, and TJ seemed to be good with letting it go and hunting fastballs.”

Fairport starter, Trevor Povlock tossed four shutout innings before Hilton sent nine to the plate in the fifth.

“He did a great job,” Reed said of his starter. “He was mixing pitches well. He was changing speeds well. He had them off-balance. He was doing a great job. They kinda started to figure him out a little bit in the fifth inning. They got ground balls through the infield. They were hitting them where we weren’t and they got through.”

Fairport looked poised to answer in the bottom of the fifth. Riorden and Rizzolo led the frame with back-to-back singles, but Murphy got out of the inning when his infield turned a 6-4-3 double play.

Lucey and Mike Perlo got aboard in the fourth with one out, but Murphy, again, stranded the runners.

Hilton improves to 6-6 with the win. The Cadets lost three one-run games on their Spring Break trip to Vero Beach, Florida. Hilton also fell to Brockport 12-11. Hilton hosts Greece Athena on Wednesday.

Fairport falls to 6-4 with the loss. The Raiders host Victor on Wednesday.

Other Results in Section V Baseball:

Victor 5 Gates Chili 4

Victor jumped out to a 4-0 early lead and held on for the win. The Blue Devils scored four runs in the second inning combining two walks and two hits to go up 4-0. G-C scored a pair of runs in the third and fifth innings to tie the score. In the bottom of the sixth Kyle Diehl led off with a bunt for a hit and Tommy Ryan sacrificed him over to second base. Andrew Westbrook pinch hit and drew a walk to load the bases. Nick Varone drove in the winning run on a sacrifice fly.