By PAUL GOTHAM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Towers Field on the University of Rochester campus served as stage Tuesday for a pair of Section Five pitching duels. A duo from McQuaid Jesuit High School grabbed top billing.
Junior Erik Johnson and sophomore Hunter Walsh notched victories as McQuaid took two (4-2/4-1) from Rush-Henrietta in non-league action.
Johnson allowed two runs (one earned) on seven hits over six and two-thirds innings in game one. The left-hander struck out four and walked none. He left runners on first and second with a ground ball to end a threat and stranded another runner on third in the fifth.
“He definitely didn’t have his best stuff, but that just shows how good of a pitcher he is,” McQuaid coach Tony Fuller said. “Even when he doesn’t have his best stuff against a great team, he’s still capable of beating anybody.”
Tyler Griggs got McQuaid on the scoreboard in the second when the sophomore tripled and came home one out later on a Tyler Cyrus single to center.
The Knights regained the lead in the fifth. Noah Campanelli took advantage of a throwing error to get to second. Matt Blejwas moved the runner with a sacrifice bunt, and Campanelli scored on an AJ Fina ground ball.
McQuaid took advantage of R-H miscues in the seventh to add a pair of insurance runs.
Campanelli started the rally with a two-out single back through the box. Blejwas walked, and pinch runner Jarrett Odorisi moved to third on a wild pitch. Two errors on an ensuing rundown play resulted in a 4-1 Knights lead.
“We did some things to ourselves that we haven’t really been doing until this point and that cost us a little bit,” Rush-Henrietta coach Bill Rasmussen said. “There were just a couple times here or there where defensively we didn’t execute when we had been executing those types of plays throughout the year.”
The state-mandated pitch count limit forced Johnson to leave the game in the seventh. Walsh came out of the bullpen and retired the only batter he faced to pick up the save.
R-H loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the seventh but only scored one run.
“It kinda boils down to we had a tough time getting hits with runners in scoring position, and we didn’t make very many productive outs,” Rasmussen added. “That really hurt us offensively.”
R-H junior Lucas Haefner struck out three and walked over 6.2 innings. The right-hander allowed four runs (three earned) on four hits. He stranded a runner on third in the third with a pair of punch outs and retired six straight before McQuaid started its two-out rally in the seventh.
“Lucas has been a bulldog for us all year,” Rasmussen noted. “He goes out on the mound, and he’s fearless. He never gets rattled and that’s something that just makes him an incredibly valuable member of the team in general.”
R-H got on the scoreboard in the fourth when Mitch Hoffower connected on a one-out double and came home when Ray Specht reached out and slapped a two-strike offering into right field.
The win was the second of the year for Johnson who finished 7-0 a year ago. The lefty hurled 6.2 innings and took a no-decision in McQuaid’s walk-off win over St. Joe’s (VI) on April 26th. He shouldered a pair of tough losses during the recent Spring Break trip when the Knights faced Florida high school powers Mont Verde Academy and Vero Beach.
“He pitched against two of the best schools in the state,” Fuller noted. “It was good for us. We got our butts kicked. That’s how we draw it up. We play a really competitive schedule even if we take some losses and some lumps early on. It’s just going to prepare us. We’re battle-tested.”
McQuaid jumped on Hunter Barber for three runs in the first inning of the nightcap.
Fina worked a leadoff walk and scored from first when Nick Tomei drilled a 1-1 pitch into the alley in left center for a double. Ben Beauchamp took second on a fielder’s choice play and scored on a Griggs base hit. Cyrus and Thomas Manno received back-to-back walks before Campanelli reached on an error to make it a 3-0 game.
“He wasn’t really settled in during the first, and we were able to take advantage of it,” Fuller said of Barber. “We finally put it together for a little bit. He’s got some electric stuff and for our offense that was huge. That’s all Hunter (Walsh) needed.”
The right-hander then tossed 5.2 in the nightcap for the win. Combining a fastball with a breaking pitch that fell off the shelf to right-hander batters, Walsh struck out four and walked two. He surrendered just four hits.
“He can throw it for a strike whenever he wants,” Fuller said of the breaking ball. “He can also use it as a strike-out pitch, locate it down in the zone. When that’s going which for him, he really is tough to beat.”
Walsh held the Royal Comets hitless through three. Hoffower knocked a one-out double in the fourth and moved to third on a ground out. Walsh left him there with a strike out to end the inning.
“I had a couple 3-2, 3-1 counts where I was just pounding curveballs,” Walsh said. ” Then using fastballs on the inside corner and getting groundballs. It was feeling good tonight.”
Barber allowed one run over his remaining four innings. The right-hander struck out six and walked four.
“He had a tough first inning, but then he came back,” Rasmussen said. “He kept his composure and he was able to get us out of some innings and to go deep in the game.”
Joey Kench came out of the bullpen and retired all three batters he faced in the seventh.
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