By PAUL GOTHAM
PENFIELD, N.Y. — Prior to this season, Santino Rosso made his contributions to the Victor baseball team’s defensive efforts from the middle infield spots. As a junior, he played shortstop for the Blue Devils which won the Section V Class AA title and advanced to the NYS semifinals.
On Monday, the now senior appeared on the mound for the third time this season. Rosso and head coach Sean Rucker both insist there is a learning curve in progress as he works on the hill. To the casual eye, though, any shortcomings might be difficult to see.
Rosso struck out 10 and allowed one run on four hits over five and a third innings of work as Victor downed Penfield, 8-1.
“He’s still learning some things about pitching,” Rucker said after the Blue Devils (5-5) improved to 5-0 in Monroe County Division I. “It’s fun to watch.”
The 5-foot-10 right-hander worked out of jams in the second and third innings before retiring eight straight and 9 of 10 from the end of the third inning through the fifth.
“I can’t say enough about him,” Rucker added. “He hasn’t pitched at all for us other than this year. He’s a fantastic player. We all know that. With his summer team he has the luxury of the other guys handing the pitching duties for him.
“For us, we needed someone to step up and be our one or two (in the rotation). He’s that guy. He shouldered the load for us today. He did a fantastic job shutting them down.”
Rosso left the bases loaded in the second with a pair of strike outs. In the third, the first two batters reached and a pair of wild pitch set up an RBI groundout. He stopped the rally there setting down two more on strikes.
“His velocity is plus,” Rucker noted. “He got ahead with that. He changed speeds and had a good breaking ball. He could throw that for a strike and for a strike out. That’s what made him so good.”
On a day when temperatures hung in the low 40s, Rosso dictated pace to opposing batters.
“I love to play the game aggressively in general,” he said. “Especially on a cold day it kinda keeps me warm and keeps your arm loose. It just really keeps me focused.
“I love to throw the fastball, so I threw the fastball a lot. I think my velocity is good. My curveball was one of the best it’s been. I had a lot of things working for me today.”
With the graduations of Brandon Meeks and Andrew Westbrook as well as Nate Hampson last year, Rucker knew the Blue Devils needed someone to fill the void.
“When he was a younger player, he threw a little bit in the summer,” the 24th-year coach said. “I knew he could do it, but he’s really stepped up for us.”
Hitting leadoff, Rosso finished 3-for-5 on the day and scored three runs.
He came home with the eventual winning run in the third inning when teammate Ryan Lukas connected on a two-out double.
“I got up expecting fastball and looked for one pitch,” Lukas said. “I got it and drilled it.”
Lukas plated two more with a single in a four-run fourth.
Sam DiGiacomo added the clincher with a solo shot to left.
“It felt good to finally get one down,” DiGiacomo said. “I had a couple line drives today that were caught. The first pitch he threw me a fastball a little up. I took a big hack at it, pulled my head off, swung and missed. Next pitch he decided to throw me another fastball low and inside. I wasn’t swinging for the fences or anything. I just drove it and it finally felt good to touch all the bases again.”
Drew Delaney retired all five batters he faced to close out the game. He struck out three.
Penfield’s Gage Ziehl finished 1-for-2 with two walks. Connor Stuewe singled and scored the lone Patriots run. Nick Ianiello had an RBI.
With the loss, Penfield dropped to 5-2 overall and 1-2 in the division.
“Obviously, that was a real big win for us,” DiGiacomo said. “We talked about that before the game how it was a must-win. We got to keep wining league games right now.”
The same two teams are scheduled to play on Wednesday at Victor. A 4:30 PM first pitch is scheduled.
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