By PAUL GOTHAM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Miguel Matos took over on the mound Saturday afternoon with runners on the corners, no outs and three runs in and East trailing 5-1.
Five innings later, he pumped his fist as he threw the final strike to seal an Eagles victory.
Matos struck out 10 and sparked a decisive two-out rally as the host claimed its tournament championship with a 9-7 victory over Greece Odyssey/Olympia.
“It feels great,” the sophomore right-hander said through Victor Arroyo who served as interpreter for his Spanish-speaking teammate. “The W feels great. All the hard work that we’ve done during the weekends and on the days when we don’t have games is starting to pay off little by little.”
After the first batter he faced reached on an error, Matos struck out the next three and left a runner on third.
“It felt intense,” Matos stated. “Obviously, they had the momentum. They had everything going on for them. I just had to go through it and throw strikes.”
He eventually retired eight straight batters. A two-out walk in the fifth was erased by battery mate Kyle Markham who threw out a runner at second. Matos escaped a jam in the sixth before striking out the side in the seventh.
He improved to 3-1 on the season. In 19.2 innings of work over seven appearances, the native of Venezuela has struck out 44 batters while allowing three earned runs on 12 hits and 10 walks. He has an ERA of 1.07.
“I had to use the curveball some,” he said of Saturday’s outing. “I’m a fastball pitcher, but I’m getting the hang of using my curveball more. That’s working for me a little bit.”
Miguel Matos slams shut the door. Sophomore fans 10 over five shutout innings in relief. @eastbaseball585 9-7. pic.twitter.com/S35fnpcKCJ
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) May 7, 2022
Matos sparked the decisive rally with a two-out single in the sixth that plated Michael Conrow. Teammates Tomas Hernandez and Emille Diaz followed his lead with back-to-back RBI hits.
“I had to get in the zone,” he said of the at-bat. “I had to focus.”
The win was the third straight for East which improved its record to 14 wins and 1 loss on the season. The Eagles lone setback came to Avonworth – a Class 3A 2 school in the Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League (WPIAL). The game was played last weekend when the Eagles went on their annual team trip to an MLB stadium and saw the Pittsburgh Pirates host the San Diego Padres.
With two weeks remaining in the regular season, East holds the top spot in the Section V Class A2.
Head coach Kyle Crandall knows the common perception of his team’s record, though. Playing in the RCAC where the other five teams have a combined record of 11-28, Crandall realizes that doubters exist.
“I understand the voice of the critics,” the 20th-year head coach said. “That our schedule has not been the strongest. There’s only so much we can do. When we’re part of a league, we’re honoring our league and our schedule.”
Since 2017, RCAC teams have won just six sectional games. Of those, only two have come against teams outside the RCAC (Monroe beat Geneva in 2017 and SOTA beat Geneva in 2018. The other four victories have come when league teams faced each other in the postseason such as when SOTA beat Wilson last season).
Early Saturday, East barely looked like a top-seeded team.
Greece’s Tyson Roundtree and Nolan Krautwurst led the third with back-to-back singles. Errors on the next two plays brought home three runs. James Schlueter connected on a single to center. Matos came in and got the first batter he faced to pop up, but again East’s defense failed to make the play.
When the inning finally ended, Odyssey/Olympia had a 6-1 lead.
“Michael did a great job the first couple innings,” Crandall said of East’s starter, Michael Conrow. “Really kept them off-balance. They got to him in third. They got the three nice hits off him. We booted some balls. You could start to feel the wheels coming off. That was a point right there where they could have easily folded. This thing could have turned into a 10-run rout. The noise on the exterior could have been accurate.”
East rallied in the fourth. Markham singled and the Eagles took advantage of three walks, an error and a wild pitch to tie the game at six.
The momentum didn’t last, though.
Dylan Austin and Josh Tantalo both reached in the sixth when hit by a pitch. Another East error contributed to a run, and Odyssey/Olympia led 7-6.
“That was an opportunity for our kids to come in with their heads down,” Crandall said of the change over between the top and bottom of the inning. “But they didn’t do that. They came with mentality of ‘Okay, they got one. Now, we got to get more than one.’ That’s exactly what they did.”
Conrow started the home half of the sixth with a walk. Markham singled inside the bag at third. Two outs later, Matos singled and the Eagles were on their way.
“There’s something special when you have a group of kids who really believe that they play as a team; that the chemistry exists,” Crandall said. “That’s what you saw today. You saw a lot of heart. You saw a lot of grit. Did we play our best game? Absolutely not. We made some mistakes that really put us in a hole. That’s something that we got to solidify in the next couple weeks. We can’t go into the postseason making some of the mistakes that we made today. But they never get down on each other. They just keep battling and fighting.”
Ty VanEpps finished 2-for-4 with a double, three RBI and a run scored to lead Odyssey/Olympia. Roundtree scored two runs. Krautwurst went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run scored. Schlueter and Tommy Rebis both crossed home plate.
Olympia/Odyssey (4-12) travels to play at Brighton on Monday.
Markham finished 2-for-3 on the day for East. Teammate Luis Rivera singled, walked and scored two runs. Arroyo drove in a run with a double and later scored. Dion Mather also had a double that led to a run. Pedro Garcia had an RBI sacrifice fly.
Victor Arroyo bloops a double down the right field line. Luis Rivera scores on the play. @eastbaseball585 pic.twitter.com/eQsDpGdVPn
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) May 7, 2022
East hosts Leadership Academy on Tuesday and Franklin/WOIS on Wednesday. The Eagles finish up their week with a battle against Greece Arcadia.
“I’m so proud of these kids because they’re trying to do something special. We’re climbing a mountain. Some people say it’s impossible to get to the top. These kids believe that mountain can be moved. When you have kids that believe that, great things can happen.”
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