By PAUL GOTHAM
WEBSTER, N.Y. — Aidan Pacatte chose to play on Penfield’s junior varsity baseball team during his 11th grade season. Facing the prospects of sitting in the dugout on a senior-laden Patriots’ team that went on to win the Section V Class AA title, Pacatte opted for an increased number of at-bats and innings played in the field.
That decision paid dividends Friday afternoon.
Pacatte connected on a pair of doubles including a bases-clearing shot in the fourth inning as Penfield erased an early deficit to defeat host Webster Thomas, 5-4.
“That was a big opportunity, and I wanted to go out and bring it for my team,” the senior first baseman said of his fourth-inning hit. “I saw it early, so I was able to wait on it and hit it deep enough.”
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Aidan Cook, Sam Guiffrida and Colin Crowley scored on the play to give Penfield a lead it did not surrender at 4-2.
“The first at-bat, I got a curveball so I just sat on another one, first pitch. I waited on it and hit it.
“It was a team effort, though. They did their job getting on base before me.”
Aidan Pacatte clears the bases with a double to left center. No outs in the top of the fourth: Penfield 4 Thomas 2 pic.twitter.com/WofQahZEwA
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) April 8, 2022
Pacatte connected on a one-out double in the sixth to plate Guiffrida with the eventual game-winning run.
“It’s nice when good things happen to good kids,” Penfield head coach Nick Marcin said of his player. “He was the one kid that when we offered him that (a chance to play on the JV team as a junior), he just lit up. He was just so happy to still be in the program and play. He worked so hard. He’s the type of kid you want to root for.”
Jacob Weiss hurled 5.2 innings for the win. The senior left-hander struck out one and allowed four runs on seven hits and four walks.
Marcin saw the second inning as the turning point in the game. Thomas loaded the bases with no outs. Weiss retired a batter on a line drive to Guiffrrida at second. Josh Butka brought in a run with a sacrifice fly before Penfield catcher Alex Young chased down a foul pop at the backstop for the final out of the inning.
Thomas led 2-0.
“That’s a win for us,” Marcin said referring to Penfield’s 8-4 loss in its opener. “A young team, an inexperienced team we had an inning against Webster Schroeder where things kinda fell apart. We gave up six. The fact that today they were able to hold it to a single run and keep us in the game was important.
“We talked about it after the first game. We’re going to have bad innings. It’s about damage control. It’s about not letting one mistake turn into two or three and now the wheels fall off. You can lose a game in one inning. It makes you feel good that they took that lesson and getting a little bit more savvy and sticking together to find ways to sort of bend, don’t break. Any time bases are loaded, nobody out and you give up just one run, you got to feel about that.”
Weiss worked out of a two-out, two-on jam in the third with a little help from Pacatte who made a sliding stop on a ball in the hole between first and second. The southpaw retired the side in order in the fourth and then got a little help from Robbie Wing in the sixth when the left fielder grabbed a sinking line drive in left field with a pair of runners on base.
“After he got out of that, the confidence was there,” Marcin. “He started working ahead of hitters and doing a good job of mixing his pitches.”
Adam Zlotkus throws a barrel on it, but Jack Hickey is there for the stop at third. Josh Butka brings in a run with a sacrifice fly to give @TitansBBall18 a 2-0 lead over Penfield heading to the third. pic.twitter.com/xLGIwIsBnb
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) April 8, 2022
Aiden Pellow worked an inning and a third for the save.
The win was the second straight for Penfield (2-1).
“That’s a very good one against a defending sectional champion,” Marcin said of Thomas which defeated Greece Athena in the 2021 Class A championship.
Young singled, walked and scored once in the win. Aiden Cook singled, walked twice and also crossed home on one occasion. Guiffrida went 2-for-4 in the game. Pacatte was 2-for-2 with a walk.
Butka walked, reached on an error, scored twice and collected an RBI for Thomas (2-2). Nate Hill had a single and a run scored.
Garett Wilson finished 2-for-3 with a walk and an RBI. The right-hander came on in the seventh with bases loaded and struck out the only two batters he faced.
Colby Wilson was 1-for-3 with a walk and two RBI.
Colby Wilson cuts the deficit to one with a 2-out, 2-run single in the bottom of the sixth. pic.twitter.com/XZH7ktS8aO
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) April 8, 2022
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