Pickin' Splinters

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Rule hurls Churchville-Chili past Hilton

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Bobby Rule, Jr. struck out four without issuing a walk, and host Churchville-Chili held on to edge No. 10 Hilton, 3-2. (Photo: Paul Gotham)

By PAUL GOTHAM

RIGA, N.Y. — With the top seed in Class AA falling on Friday and the reigning champion losing earlier in the day, Churchville-Chili head coach Bob Rule knew his second-seeded Saints needed to refocus.

Six shutout innings from his son helped the cause.

Bobby Rule, Jr. struck out four without issuing a walk, and host Churchville-Chili held on to edge No. 10 Hilton, 3-2.

“I’m pretty proud of that kid,” the elder Rule said. “He’s been dealing all year.”

The sophomore left-hander allowed two runs (one earned) on four hits. He surrendered one hit the first time through the order and faced the minimum in five separate innings. He set down eight straight from the fourth to the end of the sixth.

“The biggest thing with him is three pitches,” the second-year head coach said. “He’s got a fastball he can locate. He’s got a slider, and he’s got a changeup. He listens to his coaches, and he gets his three-pitch mix.”

The younger Rule needed 53 pitches to get through the five innings.

“It’s funny driving with him to the field,” Rule said. “I’m more nervous than he is. That kid just deals. He doesn’t get flustered. There’s nobody that I’d rather have out there.”

Churchville used a two-out in the third inning to get all the runs needed.

Marcus Roney put the Saints on the scoreboard with a single to left that drove in Rule from from second. Nick Vaccaro walked. A pair of wild pitches brought in another run, and Josh Miner made it a 3-0 game with a base hit to right.

“We just let the game play out,” the C-C head coach said. “Top to bottom, our lineup always comes through.”

On Friday, No. 1 Greece Athena lost in extra innings to No. 16 Penfield, 7-6. Victor, which advanced to the state semifinals a year ago after winning its 12th sectional title in program history, fell to No. 6 Canandaigua, 12-3.

Add to that No. 5 Webster Schroeder getting eliminated by No. 12 Gates Chili, and the chance was there for the Saints to get ahead of themselves and start thinking of a championship.

“That’s exactly what we talked about earlier at batting practice,” Rule said. “I knew it. They all started texting each other and saying ‘did you see who went down? Did you see the score of this game? Did you see the score of that game?’

“I said ‘you saw what’s going on. Respect the game and the game will respect you. The baseball gods will pay off if you play the game the right way, and we did today.”

C-C will face Canandaigua in the semifinals. The Saints (17-4) took a 10-1 decision when the two teams met on April 3rd.

Anthony Indiano struck out one over 2/3 of an inning to pick up the save. The sophomore right-hander came on in relief with two runners on base. He left the go-ahead run at first to register a save.

Roney finished 2-for-3 with a run scored.

“He’s a throwback kid,” Rule said of Churchville’s senior catcher. “He just comes out and plays hard. He battles. They can’t get a ball past him. He gets it done.”

Hilton’s Adam Petrella brought in teammate Kal Whelehan with a two-out infield single. Kaden Yapjoco, who reached on a base hit, scored the Cadets’ second run on a passed ball.

Jack Lander was 2-3.

That all four games of Class AA were played on Saturday seemed unlikely at one pit. The first round game between Penfield and Greece Arcadia was postponed from Wednesday to Thursday. Both Canandaigua’s game against Victor and Gates Chili’s matchup with Schroeder were suspended from Thursday to Friday.

Penfield took advantage of its new turf field and hosted No. 8 Brighton in the second round when the Bruins grass surface was unplayable. Victor and Canandaigua were forced to play at Honeoye Falls-Lima, a game that had delays caused by rain.

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