Mendon rallies with two outs in the seventh to beat Athena

By PAUL GOTHAM

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Jeff Amoroso had a decision to make.

With two runs in, a pair on the corners and his Mendon Vikings trailing in the fifth inning of Monday’s Monroe County Division III matchup, Amoroso looked out at his starter, Noah Lerner-Morelle and liked what he saw.

“If you look past pitch count,” the 10th-year head coach said. “You look past what everybody thinks, and you look at your guy and you can trust and believe in his demeanor out there. I just thought he’d get it done, so we stayed with him.”

Amoroso’s hunch hit the mark.

Lerner-Morelle stranded runners on first and third in the fifth. The junior southpaw went on to retire seven of the last eight batters, and Mendon rallied in the seventh inning for a 4-2 victory over host Greece Athena.

“He hit his spots all day, pounded the zone,” Amoroso said. “He showed no emotion on the mound. He just kept his composure.”

And he gave Mendon’s offense a chance to find its rhythm.

Through the first six innings, Mendon managed four base runners against Athena starter, Connor Osier.

Cam Blauvelt beats out an infield single to bring home the tying run. Go-ahead tally comes home on the throw. Two outs in the seventh: Mendon 3 Athena 2 pic.twitter.com/RCJmixhAUF

— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) May 9, 2022

Five different Vikings reached in the seventh including three with two outs.

“That was pretty improbable,” Amoroso said of his squad’s comeback.

Jake Miller started the rally with a one-out double off the fence in left center and gave way to Lerner-Morelle as a pinch-runner. Carter Grinnell followed with a walk.

One out later, Zach Young brought home the first run of the inning with an infield single.

“There was no doubt in there,” Amoroso said of the feeling in the Mendon dugout.  “We weren’t sitting in there licking our wounds. We were in there grinding, thinking we could do it.”

Cam Blauvelt beat out an infield single to bring in the tying run and Young came round to score off an errant thrown on the play. Blauvelt scored when Brendan Kane reached base.

“That’s a big win for us,” said Amoroso whose team had won six in a row earlier in the season but had 3 wins and 3 losses in the six games leading up to Monday. “I don’t think I can say I thought we’d do it. I knew we could, but it wasn’t looking good. For us to scratch it out was really cool.”

Lerner-Morelle struck out six without allowing a walk for his first complete game and win at the varsity level. Of the 86 pitches he threw, 61 were for strikes.

“My location was really good with my fastball, change-up,” he said. “I didn’t throw my slider that much, but when I did I felt like it was good. I felt like I got into the ground at two-strike approaches.”

The junior woke up Monday not expecting to make a start later that afternoon. It wasn’t until he boarded the team bus that he found out his services on the mound would be needed.

“Makes me not overthink it as much,” Lerner-Morelle said of the late pitching change.

He matched Osier through the first four innings allowing one-out hits in the second, third and fourth innings. Each time he retired the next two batters.

Osier led the fifth with a solo shot off Lerner-Morelle, and Riley Catena’s two-out single scored Matt Tallini for a 2-0 Athena lead.

“I just had a feeling my teammates were going to be able to pick me up. I just tried to throw strikes and get plays in the field. It ended up working out.”

Collin Clark and Daniel Palumbo collected a single apiece for Mendon (10-5).

Athena’s Aleks Englert doubled in three at-bats. Jaden Madrid, Sammy Saucke and Evan Smith had a hit apiece. Tallini finished 2-for-3.

Osier struck out nine and retired eight straight batters and 11 of 12 from the third inning into the sixth.

“Connor Osier was spectacular today both on offense and pitching,” said Amoroso who teaches at Greece Athena. “Spectacular.”

The same two teams face each other again on Wednesday.