By PAUL GOTHAM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Channing Owens entered Wednesday’s non-league matchup with bases loaded, no outs and one run in during the fourth inning of a two-run game. The senior right-hander went on to retire 13 of the 16 batters he faced, and the Aquinas Li’l Irish defeated East 6-3.
“He’s a guy that I’m not afraid to go to when the situation gets tough,” Aquinas head coach Ray Manioci said. “I thought about it for a little bit, and I said ‘okay, we get to out of this inning.’ I knew Channing would get us out.”
The senior right-hander induced a ground ball out of the first batter he faced, and third baseman Max Calleri delivered a strike to catcher Lucas Leone for a force at home. Victor Arroyo lifted a fly ball into center for an RBI sacrifice fly. With the go-ahead run on base, Owens retired the final batter of the inning on strikes.
“He’s not going to overpower you with his fastball,” Manioci noted. “When he gets into a rhythm, he can throw the breaking ball for a strike. He can change speeds on it. He can kinda change the depth. He’s a guy who knows how to pound the strike zone first and foremost. He holds runners well, and he’s not afraid of the moment.”
The 5-foot-11 senior worked around a pair of two-out walks in the fifth before setting down the side in order on strikes in the sixth.
“Once I get into the zone, all I think about is what’s in front of me,” Channing said. “I was able to block everything else out and throw strikes.”
He finished with 10 strike outs in the performance including four in the seventh when a dropped third strike allowed East’s Victor Arroyo to reach base. The win was his fourth of the season.
“Channing is a guy who we knew had a ton of talent,” Manioci added. “He never really took that step that we had been waiting for, and then he dedicated himself over the winter: got on a throwing program, went and hit every day, doing the right things in the classroom. The results have shown on the field.”
Tyler Szalkowski gave the Li’L Irish a lead it did not surrender when the senior drilled a two-home run in the bottom of the first.
“I went up looking for a fastball,” the SUNY Albany football commit said. “My first at-bat of the game and had to have a good approach. I try to keep it simple, just try to hit something hard. He threw me an inside fastball. I kinda jumped on it and the rest is history.”
CJ Mangone, who reached with a triple, scored on Szalkowski’s blast. Shane Weasner followed with a triple of his own, and Caleb Wilson made it a 3-0 game with an RBI single.
Owens added a run with a sacrifice fly in the second when he brought home Lucas Leone.
Owens, Szalkowski and Weasner, the only three seniors on the Aquinas roster, were honored prior to the game.
“We’re very lucky because the three guys that we celebrated today, especially after the year off (due to COVID), they stepped up,” Manioci said. “For us having those three guys to show our younger guys the way to do things has helped propel our team to where we are.”
Owens finished the night 1-for-3 at the plate with two RBI and a run scored. Leone went 2-for-3 with two doubles.
Aquinas (11-2) has won four of five games.
Luis Rivera got East on the scoreboard in the third inning when the the Eagles second baseman brought home Kyle Markham with a two-out single through the right side.
Christian Diaz led the fourth with a walk and when the fourth ball went to the backstop, the East centerfielder took second. He advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a Tomas Hernandez ground ball. Pedro Garcia singled, and Markham walked to load the bases before Owens entered the game.
Garcia went the distance on the mound for East. The sophomore left-hander struck out eight.
The East lineup included just one senior – Israel Sullivan. Markham, a seventh grader, hit in the lead-off spot and caught. Emile Diaz, an eighth-grader, was the designated hitter. The lineup also included sophomore Quentin Gordon-Smith. Five juniors filled out the batting order.
The Eagles fell to 7-5 with their third loss in four games.
Last Tuesday, East jumped to a 6-0 lead before dropping a 12-6 decision to C.G. Finney in a game that featured the sons of East head coach, Kyle Crandall, getting house bragging rights over their dad.
Crandall’s younger son, Mike (a ninth grader at Finney) came on in relief and threw six shutout innings with nine strike outs.
“He had his little slurve working,” the elder Crandall said. “He pitched a gem. It was the best I’ve ever seen him pitch at any level.”
And when Mike got in trouble, older brother David was there to help.
“It was the fifth inning and our fifth and sixth batters got on with no outs,” Crandall explained. “Quentin Gordon Smith comes up and he hits a shot up the middle. Absolute shot up the middle. But David, who’s playing shortstop and shading the bag double-play depth, makes a shoestring catch and the momentum has him going right to the bag.”
Then you guessed it. Crandall’s son completed an unassisted triple play to squash the rally of his father’s team. The manner in which he executed the play was rather unorthodox. The runner at first ran past Crandall’s older son on the basepaths. The shortstop, with his coach encouraging him, continued running to the first base bag for the out.
“David runs over and touches the bag. He did that even without making a throw.”
East had beaten Finney earlier in the season, 10-0. Kyle Crandall was in attendance when Finney beat Wilson the previous day. After the game, younger son Mike turned in front of his teammates and pointed at his dad before saying “you’re next.”
“I’m like, okay. I’ll remember that for tomorrow.”
Too bad there’s not a third meeting between East and Finney scheduled for this season.
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