By PAUL GOTHAM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Graham Schild issued a leadoff walk to begin Friday’s game. The Pittsford Sutherland starter didn’t allow much more after that.
Schild hurled a 2-hitter, and Sutherland marked its first home win of the season with a resounding victory.
“To get one on our home field, it was definitely overdue this year,” Schild said after an 11-2 win over McQuaid Jesuit. “It’s a great feeling.”
The senior right-hander struck out seven and walked two in his longest outing of the season. Mixing his fastball with a crippling breaking pitch, the University of Rochester commit retired 10 of the last 11 he faced and did not surrender a hit over the last five innings.
“I’ve been going five innings usually,” Schild explained. “This game I was able to work ahead in counts and not walk as many people. It definitely helped the pitch count and helped me be able to stay the whole game.”
Giving up a run each in the first and second innings, Schild settled in and set down the side in order in the third, fifth and seventh frames. He faced four batters over the minimum in the complete-game effort and improved to 6-1 on the season.
“In the first inning, I was missing my first-pitch strikes and kinda leaving some balls up with two strikes,” he explained. “After the second inning, I worked the breaking ball ahead. I was able to get ahead of guys and was able to come back with the breaking ball later in the count and finish some guys off.”
“It was nasty,” Schild’s battery mate, Connor Fitzsimmons, said of the breaking ball. “Tight cut. Getting ahead of guys early and able to throw that breaking ball low.”
He needed just 99 pitches to hold off a McQuaid lineup which came into the game averaging better than six runs per game.
Graham Schild ???? corners for @SHSBSBL pic.twitter.com/ND5KUyF1p0
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) May 11, 2018
“That’s why I gave him the ball today,” second-year catch Brandon DeRosa said. “He’s a horse. He’s a competitor. He shut down one of the best offenses in the area.
“He could throw it in any count. He started off a lot of guys with breaking balls…When he gets that ball down, you’ll see guys fishing at it and swinging at it. It’s almost unhittable when he lives down like that.”
Schild finished 2-for-4 at the plate including a double in the middle of a decisive six-run fourth inning.
“I saw a fastball and pulled it down the line,” he said of the two-bagger which plated teammates Fitzsimmons and Jackson Renica. “Luckily the third baseman just missed it, and I was able to keep the rally continued.”
Sutherland sent 10 to the plate in the stanza and turned a deficit into a commanding lead.
“We’ve left a lot of guys on this year,” Schild added. “It was a good feeling to get some of those runs.”
Fitzsimmons highlighted the rally with a bases-clearing go-ahead double.
“I was sitting fastball at that point,” he said of his hit off McQuaid starter Erik Johnson. “A guy with a really good curveball you got to hit the fastball; the fastballs that you get. He just threw me a fastball inside, and I was ready to hammer it.”
Connor Fitzsimmons bases-clearing double gives @SHSBSBL a 4-2 lead with ☝ out in the fourth. pic.twitter.com/M7YRF4zdYF
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) May 11, 2018
Keeghan Cummings, John Messina and Layton Cummings scored on the play. Sutherland never looked back.
Davis Heyman and Will Ling delivered two-run doubles apiece in the sixth to put the game out of reach.
“I’m just proud of my guys,” DeRosa said. “We’ve had some ups and downs this year. Definitely got to get things rolling. What a way to start.”
Winless at home in four previous attempts this season, the Knights (9-8) came into Friday’s game with just three wins in their previous eight games.
“That’s something we’ve talked about having pride when you put the jersey on and step on this field,” DeRosa said. “We had some talks during the week. These guys came out and said we need to play as a team, get a team win. Everybody top to bottom did a helluva job today and swung the bats well.”
Schild scored three runs and had two doubles. Fitzsimmons, was 2-for-2. Jackson Renica had two hits in three at bats. Jack Bergin doubled, drove in a run and scored another.
Sutherland finished the 2017 regular season with a record of 11-9. They went on to win the Section V Class A2 title and advanced to the NYS Class A semifinals.
“We just got to keep it rolling now,” DeRosa said of his current squad. “Finish next week up and then it’s sectionals.”
McQuaid’s Tyler Griggs walked and scored on an AJ Fina single in the first. Jarrett Odorisi doubled home Drew Bailey in the second for a 2-1 McQuaid (11-4) edge.
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