By PAUL GOTHAM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — James Capellupo drove in the winning run with a base hit in the bottom of the sixth inning as the Hilton Cadets rallied for a 6-5 victory over visiting Brighton, Saturday afternoon.
Capellupo plated Preston Prince with his first hit of the day – a two-out single.
“The whole game I was just kinda getting the bat on the ball but not finding holes,” the UMass-Lowell commit said. “I tried to stay confident, get a pitch to hit. He threw me a curveball. I just sat on it and went the other way with it.”
Trailing 5-4 entering the frame, Michael Whelehan singled with two outs and stole second to spark the Cadets. Prince knotted the game with his second single of the game and set the stage for Capellupo.
“I was definitely anticipating off-speed,” Capellupo said of his game-winner. “He just threw me a fastball (on the previous pitch). His sequence had been fastball, curveball a lot, so I was waiting for that curveball. I got it and drove it.”
Drew Bateman worked seven innings in relief to pick up the win. The senior right-hander struck out five, walked two and allowed two hits over seven shutout innings.
“I had my stuff,” Bateman said. “I was throwing a lot of fastball and curveball. I didn’t throw much of a changeup. I threw a couple and threw it well, but I was just living on my off-speed and putting fastballs where they need to be. It was doing the job.”
After giving up a walk and a single to the first two batters he faced, Bateman retired the next three to end a top of the first that saw Brighton push five runs across the plate on five walks and a single.
“I was rushed into the bullpen a little bit,” he said with a smile thinking about the situation. “I was getting the feel for it. It’s a cold day. I had to make sure I was getting warm and stuff like that.
“It took a couple pitches to get a feel for the mound. It’s the first time I’ve been on a dirt mound this season. It’s tough for everybody.”
Bateman retired eight straight from the end of the second through the fourth and nine of the last 10 to finish off the game.
“I just had to have my team’s back as they had mine,” he said. “They made good defensive plays and came up big at the plate. It was a team effort. It’s a great way to start off our season.”
Sophomore Brady Gerig paced the Hilton (1-0) offense going 2-for-3 with a stolen base, run scored and an RBI. Steven Kraus reached base all four times he came to the plate. The sophomore doubled, walked twice and was hit by a pitch. He scored twice.
Jeremiah Scarpulla walked and scored a run in a three-run second when Hilton started to chip away at the deficit.
“We just said ‘hey at this point we’re down five-nothing, but we haven’t touched a bat yet,'” Capellupo said of the mindset in the dugout after the first half inning. “We thought we were the better team. We thought we were just going to get to the bat rack and get some runs in and roll with it.”
Brighton’s Andrew Kotrides reached base all four times he went to the plate. The junior shortstop singled, walked twice, reached on an error and scored a run. AJ Marcella, Ellis Einbinder, Jackson Heider and Benjamin Comeau scored a run apiece for the Bruins (0-1).
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