By PAUL GOTHAM
PENFIELD, N.Y. — It was a matchup that featured a pair of future Division I performers. Rush-Henrietta’s Chris Sleeper (West Virginia University) and Penfield’s Gage Ziehl (University of Miami) faced off under the lights at Bachman Field on the Penfield Town Hall grounds.
An estimated 20 major-league scouts with radar guns in tow occupied a roped-off area behind home plate. Cameras rolled. Notes were scribbled. Velocities were documented.
And Nick Ianniello made sure his presence was known.
Ianniello connected on the game’s first hit and provided the big blast as Penfield defeated Rush-Henrietta, 5-0.
VIEW MORE DENNIS JOYCE PHOTOS HERE.
“He’s one of my favorite players of all time,” Penfield head coach Nick Marcin said. “He’s so dedicated to this team and this program. He’s the heart and soul. He’s the first guy I go to when I need anything. He’s the glue. We got great leaders, but Nick just loves Penfield baseball. You just love it when kids like that have success. He works so hard, so when he has moments like that, everyone is so happy for him.”
Ianniello led the second inning with a double and scored on Robbie Wing’s single to center field.
“I was going no-step all game,” Ianniello said of his adjustment at the plate. “Sleeper was chucking. He missed with a slider, so I knew what was coming. It was a fastball over the plate. I got my hands inside and I was able to get it out to left field.”
Penfield strikes first. Robbie Wing follows a Nick Ianiello leadoff double with an RBI single. pic.twitter.com/KrQ2O4y9Dh
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) May 13, 2021
The right-handed batter added to the lead with a two-home run to left center in the fifth.
“We really had to push one across,” he said. “It was one-nothing at that point. I was really trying to go the other way. I’ve been struggling lately. He kinda left the ball on the plate, got into it.
“His two-seam was leaking. That ball really dives, but it wasn’t really moving today. If he was going to throw that in, I was going to get it in.”
The runs were more than enough to support the pitching performance of Ziehl and Jack Josephson.
Ziehl started and struck out 10 over four innings. Despite an “uncomfortable” bullpen session, he found his rhythm early. Ziehl’s first pitch was a fastball for a strike. He needed nine pitches to retire the first three batters in order.
“I had the sun right in my eyes,” Ziehl said of the pre-game warmup on a makeshift mound. “When I got out there, I just tried to feel the mound. To be honest, it didn’t feel that great. First pitch, though, everything clicked.”
Gage Ziehl goes in order in the second. No score R-H and Penfield. pic.twitter.com/DuyCymzjLE
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) May 13, 2021
A two-out walk in the third was Ziehl’s only hiccup.
“I couldn’t do that without this team,” the senior said. “Those were clutch hits from Nick and Robbie. They’re the real heroes.”
Setting up with his fastball, the right-hander handcuffed batters with a slider/curveball combination that kept hitters off-balance.
“There is something to be said when you can do that when there are the expectations,” Marcin said referring to the scouts in attendance. “He’s obviously gifted. You can see that. He’s still a 17-year-old kid. There are multiple scouts there with radar guns. He knows they’re here for him and you would think he’d feel the weight of the world on his shoulders. Instead he just goes out and pitches. His ability to dominate when’s he’s expected to dominate and to go through his process and stay in the moment. He’s a special talent, the best I’ve ever coached.”
Josephson set down nine of the 11 batters he faced. The right-hander fanned seven.
Penfield added two more runs in the sixth. Peyton Pace worked a bases-loaded walk, and Ziehl brought in another on an RBI fielder’s choice.
Penfield improved to 7-0 in a game that might have offered a glimpse of what this year’s sectionals may look like.
“I was excited for this one,” Marcin said. “All day long It didn’t feel like the seventh game of the regular season. All day I was a little amped up almost the way you feel before a sectional game. It just had that atmosphere tonight.”
“It was everybody,” Ziehl said referring to the decrease in COVID restrictions. “Everybody being here and being able to watch especially this big game against Sleeper, that brought the energy up.”
Wing finished the game with two walks and a stolen base.
Seamus Devlin had the lone Rush-Henrietta hit, a one-out single in the fifth.
Sleeper hurled 4.2 innings for Rush-Henrietta. The right-hander retired the first two batters of the fifth before issuing a walk to Ziehl that Ianiello followed.
Chris Sleeper works a 1-2-3 first. Heading to the 2nd no score Rush-Henrietta and Penfield. pic.twitter.com/DTctPFNoAo
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) May 13, 2021
Leave a Reply