Pickin' Splinters

Rochester's Independent Sports Source

Le Roy erases 13-run deficit in victory

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By PAUL GOTHAM

LE ROY, N.Y. — What started as an exercise in gaining self-respect turned into a dramatic, albeit unlikely comeback.

Trailing 13-0 on Senior Day and heading into the bottom of the fifth, the Le Roy baseball team rallied to beat Caledonia-Mumford, 16-14 in Livingston County AA action on Wednesday.

“When you get down like that, it’s tough to keep the morale up,” Le Roy head coach Leon Koukides said. “It’s something that we talk about a lot. It’s the resiliency to keep fighting no matter what. Even putting up two runs is better than nothing when you’re trying to show that you got some guts and you can fight.”

The Oatkan Knights sent 14 batters to the plate in the fifth inning and scored 10 runs.

John Panepento brought in two runs with a single through the left side of the infield. Jack Spezzano followed with an RBI sacrifice fly and Luke Caccamise made it a 13-9 game with a two-run triple. Maverick McKenzie beat out an infield single to score Caccamise with the 10th run of the inning.

“That’s a group of kids that never quit despite the circumstances and the score,” Koukides stated. “It took a hit to be contagious. They started to believe in themselves a little bit.

“That’s huge for these guys to chip away and get where they got and then to start to believe they could take the lead.”

Ayden Riggi brought home the first run of the sixth, and Spezzano followed with a two-run double. Le Roy trailed 14-13 with one out in the sixth.

“Cal-Mum is a great opponent; they always are,” Koukides said. “They have a great record coming in, so I knew it would be tough.

“It worked out for us today. At 14-10, we were putting the ball in play. I knew they didn’t have a ton of pitching left that they could bring in. How their balls were dropping earlier for them and every hit turned into something, it seemed like that was it for us.”

Tyler Strollo reached base three straight times during the rally.

“The fight that we just had there, I’ve never been more proud of my teammates,” the senior infielder said. “To see us not hang our heads. We went down swinging.”

Strollo’s one-out double brought home Spezzano with the tying run.

“I saw a first pitch strike,” he explained. “I think it was a curveball on the outside corner which aren’t my favorite pitches. I thought to myself, ‘we got to do a job right here.’

“I saw it through and just tried to make good contact while staying back.”

Caccamise doubled to right and brought home Strollo with the go-ahead run.

“That is possibly one of my favorite feelings I’ve ever had in sports,” he said. “It’s a great feeling because you go and see all your guys. They’re ready to give you high fives.That was a great feeling.”

Ayden Riggi picked up the win in relief, Alex Spezzano worked a scored seventh for the save.

“I didn’t want us to mercy-ruled,” Koukides said. “This team is too good of a group of guys to get mercied in a game like this. Cal-Mum is a great opponent. They always are. They have a great record coming in, so I knew it would be tough. I don’t know how they came through today, but they came through today.”

Kyle Wade tripled and sparked a nine-run Cal-Mum fifth inning. Cam Reed’s two-run single highlighted what appeared to be a decisive margin.

Le Roy’s first five batters reached base in the home half of the frame.

“We kept chipping away, kept chipping away,” Strollo said. “Once it was 13-3, I was like okay we just got to put up one more and then we can at least fight. It’s senior night. Let’s fight. Putting up that fourth run, I was like this is happening right now.”

The win was the sixth in the past seven games for Le Roy (14-5).

“It’s senior day, and it’s great to see seniors come through,” Koukides remarked.

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