Brust reaches career milestone in MCC sweep

By PAUL GOTHAM

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Five days after completing a doubleheader sweep in the home opener, Monroe Community College baseball (8-4) followed a walk-off win in extra innings with a milestone victory in a twinbill sweep (2-1/11-3) of Cayuga Community College, Tuesday at Tribune Field.

Aidan Gallagher (Hopewell Junction, N.Y./John Jay-East Fishkill HS) drew a one-out walk, stole second and eventually came home with the winning run in Game 1.

“Aidan did what he does best,” MCC head coach Dave Brust said of the sophomore centerfielder who leads the Tribunes in thefts (7) and runs scored (19). “He hits, he gets on base, and he steals bases.”

Braedon Reina (Rochester, N.Y./Churchville-Chili HS) delivered the game winner with a two-out single to centerfield. The sophomore outfielder had two hits in his previous 16 at-bats.

“Braedon Reina couldn’t have been any more due for a big hit, and he delivered when given the chance,” Brust said.

Jaden Sherwood (Batavia, N.Y./Notre Dame-Batavia HS) worked three innings in relief to pick up the win. The sophomore right-hander struck out seven without issuing a walk. He allowed two hits. Of the 44 pitches he threw, 32 were for strikes.

“He’s figuring out some things, and it showed yesterday,” Brust said of Sherwood who improved to 1-1 in his fifth appearance.

Connor Osier (Rochester, N.Y./Greece Athena) started and struck out five over three shutout innings. The 6-foot-5 right-hander who will get a start in this Saturday’s DH with Bryant & Stratton (Ohio) was on a pitch count against Cayuga.

“It was almost like an extended bullpen (session) for him,” Brust said. “We didn’t not want to pitch him because then it would have been a nine-day layoff. With four days’ rest, we wanted him to throw 60 pitches.”

Tristan Pappas (Richmond Hill, ON/St. Theresa of Lisieux CHS) hurled two shutout frames of relief with two strikeouts.

Zane Barron (Ormond Beach, FL/Seabreeze HS) singled and scored in the fifth on a one-out single from Gallagher.

Thomas Woodbridge (Fayetteville, N.Y./Fayetteville-Manlius) went 2-for-3 in the win. Michael Sardou (Rochester, N.Y./Churchville-Chili HS) had a hit in three at-bats.

The Tribunes left no doubt in the nightcap scoring four runs in the second inning and putting crooked numbers on the board in the fourth, fifth and sixth frames.

Woodbridge plated two with a two-out single and later scored on a Josh Skuce (Toronto, ON/Michael Power St. Joseph’s) base hit as Monroe took a lead it did not surrender at 4-1.

Skuce scored one of his two runs in the game on an Aaron Reina (Rochester, N.Y./Churchville-Chili) sacrifice fly as part of a two-run fourth then drove in Gallagher and Woodbridge for two of his four RBI in the fifth when MCC added three runs.

Gallagher, who went 3-for-4 with three runs scored in Game 2, tripled home Woodbridge in the sixth and then scored on a sacrifice fly from Skuce.

Luke Lance (Toronto, ON/Birchmount) hurled an inning of relief to pick up the win.

Parker Holden (Rochester, N.Y./Webster Schroeder) retired all six batters he faced, two on strikes, over two scoreless innings of work. Cameron Bentley (Toronto, ON/Humberside) worked a shutout frame.

Braedon Reina was 2-5. Sardou went 2-3 with two walks and a run scored.

Tyler Cannon (Webster, N.Y./Webster Schroeder) went 1-3 with a walk, RBI and run scored. Stefano Peloso (Ottawa, ON/St. Pius X) walked and drove in a run.

The Game 2 win was the 300th in Brust’s career.

“So many play a part in this,” said the 13th-year head coach. “It’s a testament to everything before me with Coach Chamberlain, Coach (Skip) Bailey, Coach (Pete) Dawes, Coach ‘Chris’ (Jack Christensen), Mike Kelly – none of this ever happens without those guys.”

A Third Team All-American under Chamberlain in 1987, Brust went on to play two years at Ball State University of the Mid-American Conference where he earned All-Conference honors his senior year. After college, he signed with Atlanta and played three years in the Braves’ system.

After being out of baseball for several years, Brust credited Kelly and Bailey with getting him back into the game.

“Mike Kelly pulled me in when I had no interest in baseball whatsoever. As I was working through being an assistant, Skip was always there encouraging me.”

Brust was part of the Tribunes’ staff from 2005-12. During that time, he also worked with the Genesee Riverbats and Webster Yankees of the New York Collegiate Baseball League becoming the general manager and head coach of the latter organization that he led to the 2011 championship when he was named NYCBL Coach of the Year.

He served as an assistant at the University of Rochester under fellow Tribune alum, Joe Reina before taking the reins in the fall of 2013.

“I’ve got a lot of people to feel really good about. When I see 300 like that, you can’t without great players, and we had great players, no questions.

“It’s been a lot of great experiences. What makes the experiences great are the tough times, and we’ve had a couple clunkers in there. Clunkers make you look in the mirror and change, get better.”

Brust has led MCC to the NJCAA Division II World Series in 2016, 2018 and 2019.

“I’ll probably always be a little bitter that Covid wiped out a year,” Brust said referring to the loss of games and opportunities for more wins. “We only got 12 games on the books that season. The next two years, we didn’t even play 40. Fifty should be the standard. All that got me counting a little bit.”