Bockmier fans 10, stays undefeated on the season

By PAUL GOTHAM

MENDON, N.Y. — Hudson Bockmier hurled a 2-hitter and improved to 7-0 on the season as the Pittsford Mendon Vikings (10-3) downed Honeoye Falls-Lima, 5-0, Saturday afternoon.

As he has done in his previous two starts, the senior left-hander struck out 10.

He surrendered a one-out single in the first before retiring six of the next seven batters.

“He’s just throwing first-pitch strikes,” Mendon head coach Jeff Amoroso said of his starter who worked ahead to 16 of 25 batters. “He’s commanding three pitches and sometimes a fourth. He believes in himself on the mound. He has supreme confidence without any arrogance out on the mound at all. He’s just throwing strikes. It’s great to watch.”

Using his slurve in any count, Bockmier faced the minimum in the second, fourth and seventh with a dropped third strike being the only batter to reach in the fifth. He finished the outing throwing 86 pitches – 58 for strikes.

“I can spot it almost anywhere – inside, outside,” he said of the pitch. “It’s a really good get-out pitch for me. I like throwing it a lot on 3-2. It catches the hitters off guard. It’s really working for me right now.”

Backed by a defense which played errorless ball, Bockmier finished with seven groundouts and four outs in the air.

“This team works really hard during practice. It’s nice to know that when I’m pitching, I have guys who can make plays for me. It really helps on the mound.”

Kyle Hennessey got Mendon on the scoreboard when he plated Zach Janson with a two-out single in the first. The Vikings had all the runs needed for the win.

Andrew Bernacki and Bockmier connected on back-to-back RBI doubles in a three-run to give Mendon some breathing room.

Cameron Blauvelt walked and scored on a Janson single in the sixth.

Karthik Mathew-Malik finished 2-for-3 with a double and a run scored. Lucas Anaya went 2-for-3.

The win capped a week which saw Mendon come from behind to score six runs with one out in the bottom of the seventh to force extra innings Wednesday against Greece Arcadia. Bockmier capped the rally with a walk-off, two-run home run in the ninth.

On Thursday, the Vikings rallied to erase a four-run deficit before falling to Batavia 12-4 in a game where the Blue Devils scored six runs in the seventh.

“It was a tale of two different types of emotion,” Amoroso said. “It was tough to lose that game, but they’re good. Batavia is a good team.”

Ben Sousa and Hayden Smith had a hit apiece for HF-L (7-1).