By TJ HATHAWAY
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Facing a 1-1 count in the bottom of the seventh, with two men on, Rush-Henrietta’s Evan Brock delivered on the biggest hit of the day. He took a high and outside fastball into opposite field, a line-drive that scored the tying and winning runs giving the No. 3 Royal Comets a 9-8 win over No. 6 Penfield in Section V Class AA action on Wednesday.
The walk-off came after an eventful game for Brock. One that also saw the junior homer in the fifth to give R-H an earlier lead.
And also one that saw Brock attempt to get his team out of a tough situation in the top of the inning.
“We got Evan (Brock) on the mound,” coach Bill Rasmussen explained. “I mean he’s got six saves this season for a reason, because of how he’s been in pressure situations.”
After RH’s starter, Tobey Wright, got into trouble in the form of the bases loaded and no outs, Brock came in to pitch relief. Robbie Wing hit an RBI single to tie the game, followed by an Aidan Pellow sacrifice fly to give Penfield the lead.
Trailing 8-7, Rush-Henrietta would have three outs to save their season. Rasmussen expected Brock especially to be ready for the moment, and he was. After Seamus Devlin and Wright drew back-to-back walks to open the inning, Brock connected on the hit that won the game for Rush-Henrietta.
“What makes him a really dangerous player is his ability to leave the past behind him, and go forward only worrying about what is in front of him”, said Rasmussen. “You can tell the second he came in here he was ready to make something happen.”
Evan Brock connects on a two-RBI triple to walk it off for @RushAthletics. FINAL: @PHSPatriotsBB 8, @RushAthletics 9. pic.twitter.com/60WPYBp55f
— TJ Hathaway (@tj_hathaway) May 25, 2022
Brock was locked in at the plate when Rush-Henrietta needed it most. There were multiple occasions over the course of the game where Penfield would begin to open a lead, and Brock would be a pivotal part of keeping the game close. Coach Rasmussen pulled his team aside before many of these moments, in attempt to light a fire in his team.
“I just reminded them that we’ve been in those situations before. We play a tough schedule for these reasons. This isn’t something new to us, and if we just keep doing the things that we talk about everyday in practice, at the end of the game we are going to give ourselves an opportunity to win.”
In the first inning, Penfield sprung out to an early 2-0 lead. Brock hit an RBI single that scored Joe Grzeskowiak to cut the lead to one. In the fifth inning, after Penfield took a 6-3 lead in the top of the inning, Brock hit a two-run home run over the fence in left-center field, giving RH the lead back immediately following an at-bat that saw Tobey Wright help bring home two runners.
“I am really proud of the way we executed on some big time plays and some big time moments” said Rasmussen. “We’ve been in that situation a whole bunch of times. We’re coming off a pretty big last two weeks where we had to come from behind to beat some pretty good teams, and we felt comfortable playing with pressure on us”.
For Rush-Henrietta, Brock finished his day at the plate with three hits and five RBI. Alex Garcia finished 2-2 with an RBI double. Grzeskowiak had a single paired with a sacrifice fly. Kyle VanAuker singled twice. Cameron Richards singled. Wright finished with an RBI, and started on the mound for RH. Early in the first inning, Wright took a hard groundball off the ankle that hobbled him for a little bit. Despite this, he was still able to go for six innings and tallied three strikeouts. Rasmussen commented on his toughness.
Wright picks up his second strikeout of the inning for @RushAthletics to leave a runner stranded at second. @PHSPatriotsBB 2, @RushAthletics 1 mid-2nd. pic.twitter.com/iIjefUVOXh
— TJ Hathaway (@tj_hathaway) May 25, 2022
“Tobey is just an elite athlete. That same thing has happened to him before during this season on the mound, and he finds a way to put it aside and keep grinding forward. That is something he can do because of the type of competitor he is and because of the type of athlete he is.”
Aiden Cook led Penfield with a double, single, and a pair of RBI. Aiden Pellow singled twice and had an RBI. Wing finished with a hit and an RBI. Colin Crawley singled and doubled. Alex Young hit a pair of singles and scored a runner. Sam Guiffrida singled.
“The team that we started out as at the beginning of the season and the team that we are now are night and day from one another.” said Rasmussen.
Rush-Henrietta will advance to play the No. 2 seed McQuaid Jesuit Knights in the Section V Class AA semi-finals. The teams played twice in the regular season and each team won on their home field, with the score of both games being 9-8. Rush-Henrietta won the most recent of the two match-ups.
Leave a Reply