By STEPHEN BRICKLER
IRONDEQUOIT, N.Y. — Irondequoit scored three runs in the second and four more the third to take a 7-1 lead en route to an 11-3 victory over Pittsford Mendon in Section V Baseball action on Friday. Kip Bertram got the win giving up two earned runs on seven hits with no walks in four innings of work. Connor Gresens closed out the final three innings for the Eagles allowing an earned run on one hit and two walks while striking out three.
The Eagles moved to 6-5 on the season with the win.
“We started out 0-3 and 1-4 and now we’re 6-5” said Eagles coach Joe Kuhn. “This is our first time above .500 so now is the time to not look back. We’ve battled, scratched and clawed to get to .500 and we hope to not look back and not be .500 again.”
The Vikings jumped on top 1-0 in the top of the first with three straight two-out hits. Colden Forney started the rally with a single followed by another single by Aidan Lerner-Morelle and an RBI ground-rule double by Cameron Barbulean.
The Eagles countered in the bottom of the second for three runs which began with a leadoff single by Carraig Jones. Jones stole second and came home on a two-out single from Tino Tiermini. Tiermini advanced to second on a passed ball and took advantage of an error to score. Jack Bayerl also scored on an error.
VIEW MORE WORK FROM CHRIS WASHINGTON.
The Vikings threatened to score in the top of the third with runners on first and second with one out. Eagles second baseman Landon Bryan made a run-saving defensive play with a diving catch of a sharply hit line drive by Lerner-Morelle for the second out and then Barbulean was retired on a long fly to center to end the threat.
Max Spitz led the Irondequoit third with a walk. Gresens singled, and Jones loaded the bases with a bunt single. Bryan followed with a two-run single and after a sacrifice bunt by Zach Haight to move Bryan and Jones into scoring position, Bayerl delivered a two-run single to extend the Eagles lead to 7-1.
Mendon added a run in the top of the fourth on back-to-back doubles to lead off the inning. Noah Lerner-Morelle doubled to lead off the inning and was immediately followed by an Ari Goldstein two-bagger. Bertram retired the next three Viking batters to finish his day on the mound.
The Eagles got that run back in the bottom of the fourth on a Brody Froman leadoff single. Froman advanced to third on a fielder’s choice and a sacrifice fly and was driven home when Jones connected on his third hit of the day. The Eagles added another run to take a 9-2 lead in the bottom of the fifth on a leadoff single by Haight who advanced to second on a passed ball and then scored on an RBI single by Bayerl.
The Eagles extended their lead to 11-2 in the bottom of the sixth. Back-to-back walks put Spitz and Gresens on base to lead off the inning. A double by Bryan scored Spitz and a single by Alex Kozak scored Gresens before the Vikings closed the rally on a slick 6-4-3 double play. The Vikings added the final run in the top of the seventh earning back to back walks by Jack Albanese and Jaden Singer. Albanese was driven in by Forney who went 3-for-3 on the day. Barbulean pitched the first four innings for the Vikings and was relieved by Ishan Srivastava.
Jones finished 3-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI to lead Irondequoit. Bayerl went 2-for-3 with three RBI and a run scored, Froman went 2-for-4 with a run scored and Bryan went 2-for-4 with three RBI and a run.
Kuhn was happy with the offensive performance,
“It was nice to get the bats going. We’ve been cold. We were two-hit on Wednesday and were tied 1-1 in the seventh yesterday. It was nice to score some runs and string some hits together.”
Kuhn also praised Jones who returned to the lineup after a two-game absence with an injury,
“Carraig Jones missed Wednesday and Thursday with a hip injury and went 3-for-4 on the day. He makes things happen out there. We are a totally different team with Carraig Jones than without him and that was very evident this week.”
“I’m glad to be back after missing a couple of days,” Jones said “I’m glad I could help the team win and hopefully we can start stacking wins in time for sectionals.”
Leave a Reply