By PAUL GOTHAM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Ben Beauchamp delivered the go-ahead run in the seventh. It was all that Erik Johnson needed, and the McQuaid Jesuit Knights might have finally put closure on a previous disappointment.
Beauchamp finished 2-for-4 including a two-out double in the seventh as No. 5 seed McQuaid rallied to beat No. 4 seed Webster Thomas, 3-2 in Class AA quarter-final action at Basket Road Field, Monday night.
Beauchamp turned on an 0-1 offering from Thomas starter Ryan Mason and plated Steve Sercu from second base as the Jesuit Knights erased a 2-1 deficit.
“I was sitting curveball all the way, and I got what I wanted,” Beauchamp explained. “My third at bat he gave me a fastball and I was on it. In my last at bat, I didn’t think he was going to give me another fastball. It was a curveball middle in.”
It was the sophomore outfielder’s second straight two-bagger. His leadoff double in the sixth helped the Jesuit Knights knot the contest. Tyler Griggs followed with a fly ball to move the runner 90 feet, and Billy Kehrig delivered a sacrifice fly for a 2-2 game.
Second-year coach Tony Fuller attributed Beauchamp’s success in the clutch to last fall when the wide receiver played in the sectionals during football season.
“I knew it was going to pay huge dividends,” Fuller said referring to the school’s run late in the season. “You feel the tension. You feel the tightness you feel in a sectional game. Benny showed it today. Two biggest hits of the year right there.”
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Sercu walked to lead the McQuaid seventh. The pinch hitter moved to second on an AJ Fina sacrifice bunt before coming home on Beauchamp’s game winner.
Johnson struck out eight and walked two. The junior allowed two of his three hits in a two-run Thomas fourth.
Ryan Carragher led with a single to center. Devin Mulcahy reached on an error. A wild pitch and a passed ball scored a run. Joe Paul singled to right, and Thomas led 2-1.
Johnson settled in from there and retired eight of the next nine he faced.
“I can’t say enough about Erik,” Fuller commented. “He rose to the occasion. He made pitches when he needed to. He was unbelievable.”
The left-hander threw 95 – 64 for strikes. He started off 17 of 27 batters with a strike and induced 11 ground ball outs.
“He had a very good curveball tonight,” Johnson’s battery mate Matt Blejwas stated. “It was spot on especially in the late innings. He didn’t lose anything. It was working really well for him.”
Johnson surrendered a one-out base hit in the seventh. A bloop hit that glanced off the glove of a diving Noah Campanelli in shallow right field. He saved his slider and struck out the next batter.
“He threw it one time all game,” Blejwas noted of the pitch. “He executed it perfectly.”
“I knew that that was what I needed to throw in that situation,” Johnson said.
Tyler Cyrus finished 2-for-3 including a two-out double in the second. The senior came around and scored on a Campanelli double to give McQuaid a 1-0 lead.
One year after falling at home to Fairport in the Class AA quarter-finals, McQuaid moves on to face No. 8 seed Victor.
“The one thing I was thinking is ‘it just can’t happen again,’” Johnson said. “We need to win. We need to go on a run.”
“We were talking last night. It’s been the longest year of my life at least and the longest year for a lot of these guys,” Fuller said. “We’ve been waiting to get back here. We didn’t get over that for a very, very long time. I think we’re finally over it with that win. Unbelievable. It was impressive to come back. Once we were down 2-1 and come back that was awesome.”
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