By PAUL GOTHAM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — A mid-season change to the top of the batting order paid dividends and has the McQuaid Jesuit baseball team in position to win a second NYS title.
Between ends of a doubleheader in early May, Tony Fuller moved Aiden Stewart from the three-hole to leadoff. The Knights’ offense hasn’t looked back.
“That’s when our offense turned,” Fuller said of the May 1st twinbill played against Roy C. Ketcham (I) at SUNY Cortland. “We were kind of sputtering offensively, and we shook up our lineup. We had to stop worrying about the configuration so much and get the guys who we want up the most at the top of the lineup. Obviously, “Stew” going to the one-hole just jumpstarted us. He’s been incredible offensively. It was a turning point of our season offensively.”
Stewart enters this weekend hitting .500 (30-for-60). The senior middle infielder leads six players in double figures with 19 RBI. Of his 30 hits, 14 (seven doubles and seven triples) have been for extra bases for a slugging percentage of .850 and OPS of 1.445.
“We think very highly of him offensively,” Fuller said of the Siena College commit. “He’s proven himself this year with his numbers.”
Zach Allen and Edward Hall have provided production at the bottom of McQuaid’s lineup. The pair scored two runs apiece in the Jesuit Knights 11-3 win over Rush-Henrietta in the Class AA quarterfinals. They both crossed home two more times when McQuaid blasted Orchard Park in the New York State Far West Regional.
“They’re really good offensively,” Fuller said of Allen and Hall. “Both of them had tough starts in terms of a lot of hard outs. Sometimes those hard outs can turn into second guessing yourself and not playing so free. Definitely can be attributed to the hard schedule we played, no question. It’s baseball.
“In a 20-game season (and we only played 18), sometimes it’s tough to get in a groove. And when you struggle for a couple games, it can feel like you’re struggling for 10 games. Those guys did a tremendous job of righting the ship. They’re on base and “Stew” is driving them in. They’ve been huge in carrying the bottom half of our order.”
Daniel McAliney and Will Taylor have combined to go 11-1 on the mound.
Taylor, who followed up a no-hitter earlier in the season with an 18-strikeout performance, threw a complete game in the Class AA championship. In 48.2 innings of work this season, the senior left-hander has struck out 68 while allowing six walks, 16 hits and three earned runs.
McAliney is 5-0 on the year including Saturday’s victory over Orchard Park. The senior right-hander has fanned 44 in 39.1 innings of work while allowing eight earned on nine walks and 23 hits.
“Obviously, they’re incredible. They had huge expectations coming in to the year. You don’t always live up to it. Sometimes when you have those high expectations it’s tough to live up to them. They’ve done such a good job of really taking it a pitch at a time, an inning at a time, a game at a time and they’ve proven why they’re two of the best around. We’re fortunate to have them with us.”
A 4 p.m. first pitch is scheduled Friday at Binghamton University for McQuaid (17-5) and Massapequa (22-2) of Section I. The two schools met in the 2017 semis, a game that Massapequa won 7-1.
McQuaid won the 2019 NYS Class AA title. The state has been forced to cancel the past two state tournaments in response to Covid-19.
Of McQuaid’s five losses this season, one was to Huntington Beach which recently claimed the SoCal Baseball Championship.
Leave a Reply