By PAUL GOTHAM
PENFIELD, N.Y. — Nick Ianniello was (as his teammates said) “in his element.” Fifteen minutes or so after the final pitch had been thrown, Ianniello was going through the daily routine of pulling a steel mat drag over the infield of the Penfield High School diamond.
A young man taking the time to prepare the field for the next day while collecting his thoughts of what had just taken place.
Ianniello’s one-out RBI single capped a sixth-inning rally as Penfield defeated McQuaid Jesuit, 2-1 in non-league action.
After Penfield had managed just one hit through five innings off McQuaid starter Daniel McAliney, Ianiello’s single was the third of three straight base hits.
“I’m glad we pushed those runs across,” he said. “That was the time to do it. Definitely the time to do it.”
Having flied out in the first and grounded out on a comebacker in the fourth, Ianniello’s one-out single to left proved to be the game-winner.
“I was hunting fastball and he left one there,” he explained. “I was able to find a barrel.”
Peyton Pace scored on the play. The Penfield shortstop had reached earlier on a one-out single and scored from second on Ianniello’s hit.
“I got a good jump on it,” Pace said of his read on the ball. “I knew how deep the outfielders were playing because they all have strong arms. I knew it wasn’t getting to them.”
Jack Josephson pitched two innings in relief to pick up the win. The right-hander retired all six of the batters he faced. He struck out the side in the seventh getting the first two batters looking at curveballs before ending the game with a fastball.
“It’s what I do,” Josephson said of his breaking ball. “I throw it in 3-2. I throw it in any count. It’s huge. It’s hard like a fastball, but it’ll drop right off the table. It’s very difficult to pick up.”
Matt Mady reached on an error to lead the bottom of the sixth. Penfield starter, Gage Ziehl knotted the game with a one-out single that scored pinch runner Andrew Olson.
“When I saw that ball come off my bat, it was a sigh of relief,” Ziehl said. “My last game was an exception, but the games before that I haven’t been hitting it great. My teammates stepped up and got us going in that inning.”
The last time these two teams met was the 2019 Section V Class AA final. McQuaid won that game, 7-1. Tuesday’s game, though played in mid-May, had a post-season feel. With CDC guidelines allowing for larger outdoor gatherings, fans filled the sidelines along right and left field lines. MLB scouts, as they have for his previous two starts, were there to watch Ziehl.
Ziehl, then a sophomore, was the starter when McQuaid beat Penfield at Frontier Field in the 2019 final. McQuaid also knocked off the Patriots in the 2018 semi-finals. Ziehl was a freshman on that team.
“Finally,” the University of Miami commit said after Tuesday’s win. “Every time against McQuaid it’s a good rivalry game. We got the best of them this time, finally. It feels great. My boy, Matt Mady got us started. He hit that ball hard. He got us going.”
For four innings, Ziehl and McAliney locked horns. Both limiting the opposing order to one hit and one walk without allowing a run.
McQuaid struck first. Ed Hall connected on a one-out single to center in the top of the fifth. After a balk and wild pitch, CJ Phelps brought home the game’s first run with a two-out single to right center.
“We know McQuaid is the standard,” Penfield head coach Nick Marcin said. “That’s why we wanted to play them this year and see how we measure up. It was good because we got a lot of seniors but there are still a lot of first-year varsity players. Facing (Rush-Henrietta starter Chris) Sleeper (last week) under the lights was a big game. But for most of the guys this was the biggest game they’ve played in other than the five guys that were in the championship game. It’s great experience for them against an outstanding team.”
In that game against Sleeper, a West Virginia University commit, Ianniello finished 2-for-4 with a double, home run, two runs scored and two RBI in a 5-0 win.
“He’s just a grinder,” Marcin said of Ianniello. “He’s one of those guys that is going to learn from every at-bat. You got a lot of confidence in him that second or third time through the order that he’s going to make adjustments. He’s finding a way to get big hits when we really need him.”
The win was the second straight for Marcin’s squad which improved to 9-1 on the year.
“I’ve never been more proud of a team,” said the seventh-year head coach who has been in the Penfield program for 16 years. “I felt that way even when we were losing one-nothing. I thought if this game ends one-nothing, I’m going to tell them it’s as proud as I’ve ever been of a team. The way they competed. It’s the cherry on top to get the come-from-behind win.”
Penfield plays at Spencerport on Wednesday.
McAliney fell to 3-1 on the season. The SUNY Binghamton commit struck out seven for the Jesuit Knights.
McQuaid (9-2) travels to play Corning (IV) on Wednesday.
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