By PAUL GOTHAM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — The plan was to break up the game with three pitchers. Not exactly a “Johnny Whole-Staff” approach but also not looking to extend a starter into later innings.
Tyler Pohlman had other ideas.
The senior right-hander took a no-hitter into the seventh inning and hurled a complete game as Orchard Park (VI) avenged a loss in last year’s NYS Class AA Far West Regional with a 2-1 victory over McQuaid, Sunday at Monroe Community College.
“I’ve never been close,” Pohlman said when asked if he has ever thrown a no hitter. “I don’t think I’ve made it out of the fourth. This was wild.”
Pohlman set down the first eight he faced before hitting a batter with two outs in the third. He then retired the next 10 in the lineup.
“I was just trying to get ahead with the fastball a lot. With some of their better hitters, I was going curve ball right away to get ahead of them. Then I was just using them. I was trying to mix it up as much as I could.”
He struck out eight, allowed one walk and used 92 pitches on the afternoon. Two balls left the infield through the first six innings.
“That’s a big win for us,” said Orchard Park head coach Chuck Senn. “Tyler’s pitching performance today was obviously phenomenal.”
Senn and pitching coach John Phillips intended for Pohlman to throw the first three innings before dividing up the final four frames between two relievers.
That is until Pohlman used less than 40 pitches through the first three innings.
“I mean 38 pitches through three innings?” the fifth-year head coach said of Pohlman who struck out eight over three innings of relief work in his most recent appearance. “We want to control the controllables and really he controlled everything for us. He was our operator today. It’s nice when you can sit back and have someone like him cruising easy through a game.”
Pohlman didn’t have much of a margin for error as McQuaid starter Matt Wilmarth held the Quakers without a hit until John Callahan’s two-out single in the fifth.
“When you got both guys rolling, you got to keep the pace up,” Wilmarth said. “You just got to trust that your stuff is going to beat the other guy’s. In this case, it didn’t, but we both pitched solid games.”
Wilmarth walked two batters in the first inning before settling in. He struck out 11 and allowed one hit, but was forced from the game with one out in the seventh when his pitch count reached the state-mandated maximum.
“The left side corner I was struggling to fine tune it and get it exactly,” the junior right-hander said. “I wasn’t missing by much. Once I figured out how far I could go, that’s when I was able to dial it in.
“A couple of walks that shouldn’t have happened. That fueled it up a little bit early. Once I found my groove it kinda felt like I was rolling. They did a good job extending counts on me, making me work. Pitch count gets to everybody once in a while.”
Orchard Park’s Ben Gocella reached on an error to start the sixth inning and gave way to a pinch runner, Sam Storm. Storm advanced on a wild pitch and moved to third on Gabe D’Angelo’s fly ball. Evan Hernandez brought home the game’s first run with a sacrifice fly.
“Once I knew that we had the lead, I knew it was my time,” Pohlman said. “I had to go and finish the game out.”
Orchard Park added to the lead in the seventh when Jackson Newlove scored from first on Rhys Arnold’s two-out double.
McQuaid rallied in the home half of the frame. Sam Stone worked a leadoff walk. One out later, Connor Forkey doubled, and Stone scored from first to cut the deficit in half. Forkey was removed for a pinch runner, but Pohlman eliminated the would-be tying run with a pickoff at second and struck out the final batter to end the game.
McQuaid (7-3) split a pair of games against Canisius High School (Monsignor Martin Athletic Association) last week before dropping Sunday’s decision. The Jesuit Knights only other loss came to Evanston (Illinois) during the team’s Spring Break trip in Florida.
“We try put them in as many pressure situations so that they feel that postseason stress,” McQuaid head coach Tony Fuller said. “But we also have to be able to win these games. Obviously, a good arm on the other side. We need to do a little bit better job in the early innings to wear on him a little bit, so he feels those struggles in the fifth inning and can may be get to him.
“Mattie pitched well. He struggled a little bit his last couple of starts. He really takes pride in his craft, so it was really good to have him get a quality outing. He gave us a chance to win. I can’t say enough. He did a really good job, did what he is capable of doing every time out.”
McQuaid advanced to the NYS semifinals with an 11-1 victory over Orchard Park last June. That Jesuit Knights’ team went on to win the state title.
“Obviously, a much different two teams here today,” Senn said. “That was a special team they had last year. We didn’t play great defense last year. We dropped a lot of pop flies and made some uncharacteristic errors. They were awesome last year.”
Orchard Park (4-0) travels to play Sweet Home next Friday.
McQuaid visits Webster Schroeder on Saturday.
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