By PAUL GOTHAM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Graham Schild overcame a rocky first inning, and the Pittsford Sutherland Knights pounded out 14 hits en route to a 16-6 victory over the Batavia Blue Devils in Class A2 semi-final action at Hilton Central School District’s Schwonke Field on Tuesday afternoon.
Schild surrendered two runs on two hits and walk in the first inning. The junior right-hander settled in from there and tossed four hitless frames.
“In the first inning I was trying to place the ball and throw too hard,” the Sutherland starter said. “In the second inning I realized just throw it over the plate and see what happens. They weren’t hitting the ball great and it proved to be effective.”
The 5-foot-10, 160 pounder struck out two including a pair of punch outs in the third after allowing the first two runners on base with a hit by pitch and walk.
“He fell behind guys one-and-O, two-and-o a lot and then kept bouncing back and battling back for us,” first-year Sutherland catch Brandon DeRosa said. “He’s a horse. He’s a competitor. He leaves it all on the field.”
Schild set down the side in order in the second, did not allow a runner past second over his last four innings of work and retired eight of the final nine batters he faced.
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“He didn’t feed them fastballs,” DeRosa noted. “He still hit his spots. When he came back, he wasn’t just throwing fastballs down the middle. He was still hitting his spots. He threw his curveball for strikes when he needed. He lived down most of the game, so guys were just kinda hitting the ball on the ground. They weren’t really barreling up any balls. He did a nice job of just not laying it in there for them and pitching with a purpose.”
The Knights sent 11 to the plate and all but put the game out reach in the second inning.
“We’ve been preaching all season about mental toughness, stay in the game first pitch to last,” DeRosa stated. “The way their kid threw the first inning versus the way we played the first inning, down two to nothing like that? They showed a lot of guts being able to be mentally tough enough to come back the next inning and make things happen.”
Will Marsh reached on an error to start the inning. Max Carver singled through the right side of the infield, and Jack Bergin walked to load the bases. After Sam Kistler and Connor Fitzsimmons forced in runs with back-to-back hit by pitches, Charlie Pellegrini gave the Knights a lead they did not surrender with a two-run double.
“Got down early, O-and-two,” Pellegrini recalled. “He threw me a lot of curveballs. I only saw one fastball in that at bat. He threw me another curve ball, and I just hammered it to center.”
Nate Richardson followed with an RBI single through the left side of the infield. A double steal brought in another run, and Jack Zielinski capped the seven-run outburst with an RBI sacrifice fly.
“We wanted to get up early on those guys,” Pellegrini added. “We knew what we had to do. The whole year we’ve been preaching being even keel, even keel. We knew we were going to come out here and battle. We weren’t going to give them this one. We did just that.”
The Knights continued to pour it on from there.
Connor Fitzsimmons doubled in a run with one out in the third. Pellegrini continued his hot hitting with an RBI bloop single down the right field line, and Richardson made it a 10-2 game with a single to center.
“We battled man,” DeRosa said. “Got guys on, cashed guys.”
Sutherland eventually extended the lead to 16-2 in the sixth inning before Batavia scored four runs in the seventh.
Carver and Richardson both finished the game 3-for-4. Carver scored two runs.
Kistler reached base five times with two walks and two hit by pitch. He scored three runs.
Marsh also crossed the plate three times.
Batavia finished the season 13-4.
Sutherland (13-9) advances to the A2 championship where they will meet reigning champion Aquinas. A 4:30 pm first pitch is scheduled at Frontier Field on Thursday.
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