By PAUL GOTHAM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — A trio pitchers combined on a shutout as the East High Baseball team defeated School of the Arts, 9-0 to win the 2022 City Tournament.
Miguel Matos hurled four shutout innings in relief for the Eagles (19-1) who won their 11th tournament title in the past 17 seasons and fourth in the past five.
“I’m proud of these guys,” Kyle Crandall said of his team. “No matter what throughout the course of this season, they fight through. They have shown a lot of resiliency.”
Matos struck out six. After stranding a runner in the third and leaving bases loaded in the fourth, the sophomore right-hander retired the last seven batters he faced. He allowed one ball out of the infield during that stretch – a routine fly out to left field.
“He struggled with his command a little bit in that one inning,” Crandall said of the tournament MVP. “Other than that, I thought he came out and really shut them down. He got stronger as his portion of the game went on.
“With Miguel, there’s a difference when he starts versus when he relieves. It takes him some time to get going. Miguel has proven to be our ace. We have three very good pitchers, but Miguel has established himself. When you have someone who establishes himself as your ace, you trust him. You got to kinda stick with it.”
Miguel Matos leaves the bases loaded in the top of the fourth. East 1 SOTA 0 pic.twitter.com/4FL5tdjyPu
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) May 19, 2022
Pedro Garcia started and recorded a pair of strike outs over the first two innings. Michael Conrow fanned the side in order in the seventh to finish off East’s 10th shutout of the season.
“We planned to use three pitchers today and go by committee,” Crandall noted.
East scored a run in the first when senior shortstop Victor Arroyo led with a single and eventually scored on a Matos sacrifice fly.
The Eagles sent nine to the plate in a five-run fourth inning.
“We found some holes, got a couple big hits,” Crandall said. “Once you get some guys on base, you can get some things going. You get some guys on base and that opens the opportunity for some timely hitting which finally did happen.”
JJ Smith started the fourth with a single to right. Tomas Hernandez and Conrow worked back-to-back walks to load the bases. Dion Mather brought home the first run of the inning when he was hit by a pitch.
Garcia plated two with a single to left. Mather scored on a Luis Rivera ground out, and Emille Diaz capped the inning with an RBI single.
Pedro Garcia plates two with a single to left. East 4 SOTA 0 pic.twitter.com/inLQwxgbdO
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) May 19, 2022
The Eagles, who managed two hits through the first three innings, had a commanding 6-0 lead.
“I felt like we were hitting the ball hard even in the early innings,” Crandall explained. “That’s not one where you can get down on your kids. They were hitting the ball hard. They were putting it in play. SOTA played great defense.”
SOTA advanced to the championship after winning a 13-inning marathon over Edison in the tournament semifinal – a game that started on Tuesday and was suspended because of darkness before being completed on Wednesday.
Good grab at first by Pedro Lebron followed by Abel Austin grabbing a line drive off the bat of Pedro Garcia to start an inning-ending double play. pic.twitter.com/iEuMyKzcJa
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) May 19, 2022
“The energy never stopped, never stopped the entire game,” first-year head coach Cameron Scharf said. “It didn’t stop Tuesday. It didn’t stop Wednesday. My boys showed up every day and every single inning. Even today when it was 9-0, guys had the same energy.”
SOTA left six runners on base in the early going. The Silverhawks threatened in the second inning when Henry Hawkinson led with a single, and Pedro Lebron connected on a two-out base hit to put runners on the corners.
Abel Austin’s shot barely eludes the outstretched glove of Victor Arroyo. SOTA has runners on first and second with two outs. pic.twitter.com/hH9CGOVHkm
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) May 19, 2022
Hawkinson started the fourth with his second straight single. Walks to Paul Stevens and Gio Petrone loaded the bases.
“That was huge for us to get out of those situations and finally get our bats going,” Crandall said. “I can’t say enough about the SOTA kids for their performance in the beginning of the game. They came to play and a lot of credit to them. They didn’t have their top two pitchers because of that 13-inning, two-day marathon.”
Michael Conrow fans the side in order to finish it off. FINAL 2022 CITY CHAMPIONSHIP: East 9 SOTA 0 pic.twitter.com/L8aPferM87
— Paul Gotham (@PickinSplinters) May 19, 2022
East took both regular season meetings between the two teams, but SOTA (10-7) was looking to win its second straight tournament title.
The Silverhawks had won seven of eight entering Thursday’s contest.
“We wanted to be here,” Scharf said. “The boys set that goal, and they accomplished it They’ve already set the goal for next year. We have a lot of returners for next year. They took the time to soak this in and they want to be on the other side of that.”
Arroyo finished 2-for-4 with a double and two runs scored. Diaz went 2-for-4 with two RBI. Rivera was 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored.
East will open sectionals next week as the top seed in Class A2.
“There’s not an ounce of jealousy in this group at all,” Crandall said of his team. “They just all love each other. The play for each other. If someone gets recognition, they cheer them on. No one is sitting in the corner saying that should have been me. When you have that sort of chemistry, that team is always going to produce at a very high level. I think that’s what we’re seeing with these kids.”
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