ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Cole Engert delivered a strong message to his teammates as the McQuaid baseball team broke its postgame huddle along the first base line at Innovative Field on Monday night.
“It ain’t over,” Englert bellowed.
No, it is not.
Bolstered by a six-run first inning, a four-run sixth and a complete-game effort by Englert, top-seeded McQuaid defeated No. 2 Fairport 11-6 to win the third and deciding game of the Section V Class AAA championship series.
The victory advances the Knights (16-7) into the Far West Regionals against Niagara Falls at 7 p.m. on Friday back at Innovative. Fairport, the defending state Class AAA champion ends its season at 14-10.
Englert, who tossed a complete game in McQuaid’s 3-2 win in Game 1 last Tuesday, allowed seven hits and struck out six while navigating adversity to go the distance again on Monday.
“It was just stick to the basics and do what we did all season,” said Englert, the Knights’ senior ace who was named series MVP. “The only thing that changed was the atmosphere and the team stepped up.
VIEW MORE PHOTOS FROM LAURA ACCIAIO.
“I gave it everything that I’ve got. I came here to battle tonight. I wanted to win this.”
The sectional title was McQuaid’s 10th in baseball and first since winning the Section V and state championships in Class AA in 2022.
After allowing Fairport to take a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, McQuaid responded in a big way as seven straight batters reached safely to produce a half-dozen runs.
Sophomore Danny Luce got the Knights started with a one-out single. Connor Forkey followed with a walk and clean-up batter Dom Corona plated the first run with a single to right. Forkey and Corona advanced an extra base on the throw to plate and scored on Jason Larsen’s single to make it 3-1 McQuaid.
The Knights added another run on a balk and junior catcher Zach Craib completed the scoring for the inning with a two-run single to left field.
“It was massive, it was game-changing,” Englert said of the offensive outburst. “It took a lot of pressure off of me and the team and you could feel the atmosphere lighten up. It was really good.”
In addition to registering four hits and taking advantage of an error, the Knights also employed an aggressive approach on the base paths that worked to their benefit.
“That’s just our brand,” said Tony Fuller, who has guided McQuaid to four Section V titles and two state crowns in his nine seasons. “That’s been my brand since Day One, since as far back as I can remember. That’s just how I do it, but it takes these guys to buy into it.
“It’s not easy to play that way, so they buy into it. They know I’m going to take every chance I can get. Sometimes it burns us, but we’ll always live and die by playing an aggressive brand of baseball. It’s fun. It’s electric, and these guys have bought into it.”
McQuaid added a run in the third as Will McCarthy led off with a single, advanced on an error and fielder’s choice and scored on a passed ball.
Fairport responded with three in the fourth as first baseman Andrew Gropp delivered an RBI single and Nick Rene followed with a single up the middle to drive in two.
The Red Raiders inched closer in the fifth on back-to-back singles by Alex Grejda and Sam Roselli, a sacrifice bunt and a balk, but Englert induced an inning-ending pop-up with runners on second and third to end the threat.
“Obviously, it gave us a cushion,” Fuller said of the first inning. “And then we were holding on for dear life. You’ve got to tip your cap to Fairport, down 7-1 you could just cave and have selfish at-bats, but they just kept punching and grinding.”
McQuaid delivered the decisive blow with four runs in the bottom of the sixth to give itself some breathing room.
Corona hit a towering double down the line in right that missed leaving the park by about a foot to place runners on second and third with one out.
“It’s a surreal feeling,” said Corona, who thought the ball was gone when it left his bat. “Seeing the ball, hitting the ball and scoring runs.”
After an intentional walk, Paul Rizzo laced a two-run double through a drawn-in infield and sophomore pinch-hitter Dominic Anzalone added a two-run single to complete the scoring for the Knights.
Roselli launched a solo shot into the left-field bullpen in the top of the seventh for Fairport’s final run.
The Red Raiders opened the scoring in the top of the first as Grejda lined a first-pitch single to left field and scored on an infield ground out by Pat Lindquist.
Corona finished 3-for-4 with two runs and an RBI to lead the McQuaid offense.
“It’s just amazing,” he said. “I have never been a part of a winning team like this, so it feels great. It felt great to help out, too.”
Luce added two hits for McQuaid, which had five players score two runs.
Grejda and Roselli both had two hits for Fairport, which captured Game 2 with a 10-3 victory on Thursday. Roselli, who started Game 1 and struck out six, came on in the top of the second and struck out six while working the final five innings for the Red Raiders.
This title means a little more to Fuller because it comes one year after a rare losing season for McQuaid.
“We had a long year last year, so we’ve got a resilient group,” Fuller said. “In high school baseball to go six and 15 and then flip it around the next year with the same roster and win a championship. I mean that’s really, really special.”
So how did the Knights do it?
“By being baseball players,” Fuller said. “By not just living in a cage and being guys that just know how to hit in a cage and pitch in another situation.
“They became baseball players. They know how to play the game. The base running that we talked about, we didn’t do that last year. They bought into it, and they turned themselves into baseball players and, in my opinion, that’s the separator. These days when you can play the game and know how to play the game the right way, you’re a scary, scary player.”
And, in this case, a scary good team that isn’t finished playing yet.
Leave a Reply