By PAUL GOTHAM
PITTSFORD, N.Y. — Pittsford Mendon needed four batters to get on the scoreboard Tuesday afternoon.
And the Vikings were just getting started.
Mendon (6-2) pounded out 16 hits including seven for extra-bases in a 13-5 win over crosstown rival, Pittsford Sutherland (5-2) in Monroe County Division IV action from Sargent Field.
“That’s a lot of runs,” said fourth-year head coach Shaun Caveny. “The team approach that we’ve tried to instill is just get it to the next guy. We don’t need a home run. We just need to pass the baton to the next guy, give the next guy an opportunity to come up with a hit for us. And these guys trust each other.”
Noah Sansone finished 3-for-5 in the win. The junior shortstop started the scoring when he plated Reece Totedo and JoJo Martin with his first of three doubles on the night.
“I want to thank my teammates for getting on base, first of all, because that’s really crucial,” he said. “Just getting on so they can get into scoring position. That was definitely a big part of it. I just wanted to keep my mind clear and realize kind of the magnitude of the rivalry and, you know, just kind of taking the moment and just be myself.”
It was the first of seven doubles for the Vikings with Sam Harrigan matching Sansone’s total and Andrew Miller adding one.
“We do find gaps,” Caveny said. “The doubles are great, but if nobody’s on base for a double, it doesn’t do us any good. So it goes back to having guys on base and guys coming up with hits and those types of things. But we got to have guys on base and the guys with unselfish attitudes at the plate to do the job.”
Mex Levitan started and struck out two over five innings of work to pick up the win. The senior right-hander retired seven of the first eight batters faced. He allowed three runs on seven hits and two walks and improved to 2-1 on the season.
“Max is a bulldog,” Caveny said. “There’s a reason that Vassar (College) is so interested in him. You see what you get. Nonstop, foot on the gas. He’s just going to keep throwing strikes. He’s going to make you put the ball in play, and when we play defense behind him. It’s part of that team, that team chemistry, that team bond we’re talking about.”
Mendon entered action having averaged 7.5 runs per game in their previous four contests. Tuesday’s total topped their previous high of 11 scored in the Vikings second game of the season.
“The team bond and the trust they have in one another to come up big, it makes it a very, very tough offense to pitch through when guys are unselfish,” Caveny said. “Guys are willing to bond, guys are willing to give themselves up, do whatever it takes to get the next guy up.”
The win was the fifth straight for Mendon and 10th consecutive against local teams. The reigning state champs last loss in Section V came against the same Sutherland Knights on May 10th of 2025.
“It was an embarrassing loss,” Caveny said. “It was 13-nothing at our place.
“So we needed to come back and take the approach of, all right, we’re here, we’re ready to play. Let’s just play the game. All right, don’t think about its Mendon and Sutherland. It’s just another opponent, right? We gotta play baseball.”
Harrigan was 3-3 with two walks and three runs scored. Martin finished 3-5. James Termine was 2-3 and reached base four times. Miller had two hits and walked twice. Ben Wabnitz went 2-5 with a run scored. Jesse Jablonsky reached base three times and crossed home on three occasions.
Nathan Markevicz retired all four batters he faced – three on strikes.
Sutherland’s Aidan Kress was 3-4 with two RBI. Ryan Munzinger singled, walked, drove in a run and scored once. Maddox Johnson was 2-4 with an RBI. Sam Byrne singled and scored. Noah Gressell walked once and scored twice. Max Kress walked and scored for the Knights.
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