By PAUL GOTHAM
A first-inning defensive gem in the outfield was just what Eric Jones and his East High teammates needed.
Justus Robinson tracked a ball off the bat of Henry Hawkinson and took away an extra-base hit. With that went any scoring possibilities for School of the Arts (SOTA).
Jones responded with a complete-game effort on the mound, and host East High claimed the 2025 City Cup with a 13-3 victory.
“Justus making that catch and the range that he had and laying out for it, it took some wind out of their sails because they had a nice start,” said East High head coach Kyle Crandall. “They weren’t able to push any runs across in that first inning because of our defense.”
SOTA’s Bennie Laver led the game with a single. One out later, Hawkinson sent a drive into the left center field gap that looked destined to drop and bounce off the fence. That is until an outstretched Robinson made the catch.
“”I’m trying to remember a high school game where I saw a catch like that,” Crandall said. “They had some momentum. First pitch of the game, base hit right up the middle. That gave them a little bit. That was an unbelievable catch that really propelled our kids.”
East responded with two runs in the bottom half of the inning and two more in the second.
And Jones made good on the run support.
Locating his fastball early in the count, the 6-foot-6 junior right-hander struck out four and kept SOTA off-balance throughout the day.
“It feels great,” he said of the win. “My fastball was working. Coach always says to start with a strike. That’s what I came in to do.”
Jones faced the minimum in two of five innings in the mercy-rule shortened affair.
For Crandall, what was most important was that Jones reached his target in four of those innings.
“We’ve been emphasizing that our guys on the mound throw 15 or fewer pitches per inning,” Crandall said. “He did that in four of five innings. Working ahead is obviously key. He did a great job of that today.
Jones, Omar Rodriguez and Yandiel Lopez had two hits apiece to pace a 12-hit attack.
“We were able to get some really timely hitting today,” Crandall said. “Got to give the kids a lot of credit. They strung together the hits today.”
Lopez drove in a run in the first and later scored twice. Jones and Rodriguez both singled in a nine-run third when the Eagles put the game out of reach.
“We really limited our number of strike outs and put the ball in play,” Crandall said.
Robinson finished 1-for-2 out of the leadoff spot and reached base three times. He drove in a run and scored three. Mitchell Nieves was 1-2 with two runs scored. Kyle Markham singled, drove in two runs and scored twice.
Emille Diaz, Carlos Gaston and Luis Sanchez each had a hit and a run scored.
East improved to 9-4 with the win. This after dropping a 9-8 decision to Greece Athena on Wednesday.
“I felt the second-half of the Athena game yesterday our at-bats got a ton better,” Crandall said. “It was a really good game at the plate, today.”
The City Cup championship was the third straight for East. The game was put in place after the Eagles adopted an abbreviated schedule against Rochester City Athletic Conference teams. With that East was dropped from the RCAC championship.
“We want to give an opportunity for our kids to be able to have a game where they lock in against that next best team in the city,” Crandall said.
Ben Barnosky, James Laver and Moses Aponte scored a run apiece for SOTA (8-5) in the fourth inning. Jack Wingert had an RBI single in the frame.
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