By PAUL GOTHAM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The Pittsford Mendon baseball team didn’t need reminding. The Vikings knew exactly how long it’s been since they last reached a sectional semi-final round.
That drought will end as the result of Mendon’s 13-5 victory over No. 1 seed East High in Friday’s Class A1 quarter-finals.
“That’s a huge monkey off our back,” Mendon coach Jeff Amoroso said. “We haven’t been able to get out of the quarters in five years. For us it’s been a high hurdle we’re glad to get over.”
At the plate and on the mound, George Gines turned in a dominating performance finishing a double short of the cycle and throwing a complete game for the win.
The junior went 4-for-5 on the night with a two-run home run in the first and an RBI triple later in the game. After surrendering five runs through the first four innings, the right-hander retired 10 of the last 11 batters he faced to end the game.
“He’s a real competitor,” Amoroso noted. “He doesn’t get fazed. George is a great baseball player. Pitches well. He hits well. He took a lot of anxiety out of us right away with that home run in the first inning. You’re playing the number one seed on their home field, and for him to come through with that shot. That was just a huge boost for us.”
Gines spotted Mendon a two-run lead with the first-inning round-tripper. He led a three-run third with a single up the middle, but he was at his best from the mound in the late innings. With two runs in and the go-ahead run 90 feet away at third base in the fourth, Gines ended the threat when he snared a line drive back to the box.
His teammates put a crooked number on the board in the next at bat, and Gines set down East in order in the fifth.
“Just a mental adjustment,” Gines said. “Had to battle. They’re good hitters. They’re good fastball hitters. They put it all over the yard. Just didn’t want to let my team down. Had to battle all day.”
He threw 92 pitches for the game – 67 for strikes and got ahead of 21 of 31 batters faced with first-pitch strikes.
“Change up was working,” Gines stated. “Curve ball was working . Fastball when I got it to elevate was working. Everything felt great today.”
Taylor Genier started decisive inning with a base hit to left field. Jake Ring dropped a sacrifice bunt that was mishandled to put runners on the corners. Cameron Yonda gave Mendon a lead it did not surrender with an RBI sacrifice fly. Sam Cestra singled home another run, and Billy Dalton capped the outburst with a two-run double into the left field corner.
Mendon led 11-5.
“We put the ball on the ground a little bit and great things happened for us,” Amoroso explained. “Kids came through with clutch hits with less than two outs and runners in scoring position. Something that we’ve not been great at this year.”
Gines took over from there and eventually struck out the side in order in the sixth.
“His change up was good today,” Amoroso noted. “He was able to change speeds. They put some really good swings on him early. They barreled him up a bunch, but later on he started to change speeds better. Once we took the lead I thought they got a little bit more anxious at the plate, expanded the zone a little bit, and he was effective.”
The win was the fourth straight for Mendon and fifth in its last six games. For a team whose last four losses all came by one run, advancing in the sectionals was especially rewarding.
“We’re playing our best ball right now,” Amoroso stated. “That’s what we were gearing up for the whole time. It’s been our goal all year. Our approach was to try to figure stuff out during the regular season. It’s really frustrating to go through the trials and tribulations in the moment. But when you finally do get through it and you get to this point and you are playing your best, you can look back and reflect with a little bit of clarity and say we were doing the right stuff trying to figure out.”
Sectional baseball underway, eighth seeded @MendonBaseball upsets East in Class A1 @PickinSplinters https://t.co/L3fQEZVOcL pic.twitter.com/brJunKrbn2
— Tim Irving (@TimIrvingSports) May 20, 2017
Dalton finished 3-for-4 with two RBI and two runs scored. Genier walked twice, scored three runs and drove in a pair. Cestra and Yonda both collected two RBI.
Eric Maldonado led East going 2-for-4 with four RBI and a run scored. The senior catcher’s two-out, two-run triple tied the game at five in the fourth inning. Jordi Agosto added two hits and two runs scored for the Eagles. John Segarra also had two hits. The senior centerfielder walked and scored a run.
Mendon will face No. 5 seed Greece Arcadia in Tuesday’s semi-final round.
“Two years got bounced at Buckland in the quarter-finals,” Gines recalled. “Last year ran into Tanner (then junior Canandaigua Brave starter Cooper) at home first game. This year feels great to be in semi-finals.”
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