By PAUL GOTHAM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The recent weather hasn’t been pleasant for any local teams, but the inclement conditions have been more than a little cruel to the Rush-Henrietta high school baseball squad. Limited to having practice on other surfaces throughout the preseason, the Royal Comets walked on a field for the first time this season, Monday afternoon in Hilton. They didn’t need much time to get reacquainted with the surroundings.
Zach Harter sparked a prolific offense, and Mitch Hoffower hurled four shutout innings as Rush-Henrietta downed the Hilton Cadets, 13-1 in Monroe County Division I action at Quest Elementary school.
After a scoreless first, Harter singled to lead the second, and Rush-Henrietta went on to send 14 batters to the plate in a nine-run frame. Harter doubled home a pair with a shot to straight center in his second appearance of the stanza.
“I just wanted to get us started,” the senior first baseman said. “We went down in the first inning 1-2-3. We wanted to get out there and score some runs, get up early on them and just continue to do what we do.”
Harter paced a 16-hit attack going 3-for-3 with three RBI.
Bill Rasmussen, though, didn’t know what to expect when his team took the field.
“It’s been a long time coming,” the 12th-year coach said. “Been beating our heads against the wall in the gym. This is a nice way to get out. We’ve been in a parking lot. We’ve been on tennis courts, but we haven’t been on a field yet. So here we are.”
Issued four free passes following Harter’s leadoff hit, Ryan Specht took advantage and delivered a two-run base hit. Lucas Haefner drove in two more with a single down the left field line.
“That was great,” Rasmussen stated. “We have a lot of older guys and a lot seniors who have been around. They all stepped up. They didn’t skip a beat. They did exactly what they were supposed to do. That goes a long way in building confidence with the younger guys because that was contagious for us. That’s something we’ve been lacking in the past is that contagious hitting. We kinda had that today.”
Harter’s first of two doubles on the day made it an 8-0 game.
“He was our player of the game today,” Rasmussen said of Harter. “Everything starts with a spark and one of the biggest problems that teams have is they don’t capitalize on opportunities. Today we got runners on base and when a guy is able to step up and deliver with guys on base that makes a difference in the game.”
Hoffower capped the frame with an RBI bloop single down the left field line. On the mound, Hoffower struck out two and walked one. After surrendering a leadoff infield single in the first, the left-hander retired 12 of the next 13 he faced.
“Mitch went out there today as a three-year senior and everything that we’ve been trying to get our pitchers to do, he did today,” Rasmussen noted. “He worked ahead. He kept his pitch count low. He worked fast, and he threw strikes.”
Commanding his secondary pitches, Hoffower allowed just three balls out of the infield.
“There were a couple of times where we got behind in the count and guys were sitting on fastball counts and it got us out of innings,” Rasmussen said of Hoffower’s ability to go to his off-speed pitches. “That’s the kind of a thing that could be a big deal down the road if he can keep doing that.”
Hoffower struck out 23 over seven starts a year ago.
“It felt pretty good today,” the senior hurler said. “We got up early, so I was able to go right at hitters with my fastball. All the pitches were working pretty good today. My change up was pretty effective.”
Joey Kench came out of the bullpen and tossed two shutout innings before allowing an unearned run in the seventh inning. Kench struck out four and allowed one hit.
“Joey is one of those kids that probably not a lot of people saw coming,” Rasmussen said. “He had a very successful year on the JV team last year. He knows exactly what he is, and he knows exactly what he’s not. He does the things to be successful. That’s a great compliment. We’re very happy with what we saw out of him today.”
Haefner finished the day 4-for-5 with three RBI.
Josh Battaglia came out of the bullpen for Hilton and tossed three shutout innings. The right-hander came on with a two-strike count, two aboard and got the third strike to the first batter he faced. He then induced a pair of infield pop outs to end the inning. Battaglia worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth.
“He did a great job,” Hilton coach Jeff Murphy said. “It’s an easy game when you throw strikes. Our pitchers haven’t done that in the first three games. You throw strikes and keep them off balance. He did a nice job coming in and doing that. He’s a sophomore, so he’s got some things to learn, but did a good job.”
Hilton fell to 0-3 with the loss. The Cadets host Churchville-Chili on Tuesday.
R-H hosts Hilton on Wednesday.
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