By PAUL GOTHAM
CANANDAIGUA, N.Y. — It was a play that led to an otherwise meaningless run.
With one out in the fifth inning of a seven-run game, Braedon Reina (Rochester, N.Y./Churchville-Chili) watched four pitches sail past him outside the strike zone. When the final offering of the at-bat went to the backstop, Reina alertly took advantage, rounded the bag at first and headed to second. Then an errant throw gave him another 90 feet and the sophomore advanced to third.
Two batters later, he came home when teammate Josh Skuce (Toronto, ON/Michael Power/St. Joseph’s) connected on a single for an 8-0 Monroe Community College lead.
With the game well at hand, Reina could have easily chosen to take his base at first and keep it at that. Instead, the sophomore left fielder took what was available.
“We try and jump on opportunities like that when we get them,” Reina said. “Coach (Dave) Brust says all the time, little things turn into big things, so, you know, just paying attention to little things. An opportunity like that arrives, and it’s just being aggressive and making the most of it.
And that may be why these Tribunes are rolling the way they are.
Monroe (27-6) swept a doubleheader (9-1/10-1) from host Finger Lakes Community College (24-14) in NJCAA Region III action from Bob Lowden Field on Sunday.
Sunday’s twinbill sweep was the sixth straight for MCC.
“If we can keep high energy and if we can stay up in the dugout and pitching shows up, hitting shows up, you know, we’ll win,” Reina said.
Starting pitchers Cos Zeiser (Victor, N.Y./Victor HS) and Connor Osier (Rochester, N.Y./Greece Athena) hurled five shutout innings apiece, and the MCC offense pounded out 29 hits.
“We’re obviously a really talented team, but you can’t show up to the park, just expecting to win,” Reina said. “It’s still staying aggressive. It’s almost like we’re playing against ourselves.”
Back-to-back extra-base hits from Michael Sardou (Rochester, N.Y./Churchville-Chili) and Aaron Reina (Rochester, N.Y./Churchville-Chili) staked the Tribs to a lead they never really surrendered in the top of the first of Game 1.
Sardou plated Aidan Gallagher (Hopewell Junction/N.Y./John Jay East Fishkill) with his team-leading 23rd extra-base hit of the season. Aaron Reina followed with an RBI double.
The Tribunes added three runs in the second and then single runs in the third, fourth, fifth and sixth.
Zeiser improved to 6-0 on the season. The sophomore right-hander struck out six while scattering five hits and two walks. Sunday’s outing was his fourth of the season in which threw five or more innings.
Tyler Cannon (Webster, N.Y./Webster Schroeder) finished 3-for-3 at the plate in Game 1 with a triple, two RBI and two runs scored. Aaron Reina was 2-4 with two doubles, a walk and two RBI. Gallagher went 2-4 with a triple, walk, RBI and a run. Sardou drove in two and crossed home twice.
Thomas Woodridge (Fayetteville, N.Y./Fayetteville-Manlius) singled, walked and had a pair of RBI. Miguel Matos (Rochester, N.Y/East High) singled, walked twice and scored three runs. Zane Barron (Ormond Beach, FL/Seabreeze) singled and scored.
In Game 2, Osier improved to 7-0 on the season. The sophomore right-hander scattered one hit and three walks. He struck out nine of the 19 batters he faced. This after he issued eight walks over three innings in a 12-7 win over Lackawanna College this past Tuesday.
“It was a matter of regrouping,” Brust said of Osier’s performance on Sunday. “It was putting in the work with Coach Petro (MCC Pitching Coach Matt Petrossi) throughout the week and just getting reset. It also was an opportunity that he needed a little tap on the shoulder that you never stop working at your craft.”
Woodridge went 5-5 in Game 2 with two RBI and three runs scored. The first-year third baseman plated Gallagher with a single in the third when MCC scored five times to take a 7-0 lead.
Sardou was 3-5 with an RBI and a run scored. Skuce went 3-4 with a double and a run scored.
Braedon Reina went 2-2 with a double and three runs scored. He had five hits in the recent sweep at Lackawanna and has scored 17 of his 41 runs over the past 13 games.
“He’s looking for any way to show leadership,” Brust said of Reina. “His aggressive play rubs off on the rest of the ball club. I’m pretty happy that he’s doing stuff like that. Not everything he does shows up in the stat book. That’s what we need.”
Cannon singled, drove in a run and scored. Barron singled, walked and had two RBI. Gallagher connected on his seventh triple of the season and walked. Tanner Holmes (Allenford, ON/Owen Sound District) was 1-2.
The Game 2 victory was Monroe’s 13th straight – the longest winning streak since Brust’s 2018 club won 18 in a row. The Tribunes won nine consecutive in each of the 2019, ’22 and ’24 seasons.
The program record is 29 straight wins in 1989 under then-head coach Dave Chamberlain. MCC won 21 in a row under Skip Bailey in 2005.
MCC travels to play Cayuga Community College on Tuesday. A 2 PM first pitch is scheduled for a doubleheader.
FLCC dedicated its field in honor of Lowden, an MCC alum, on Friday. Lowden, a member of the Churchville-Chili Athletics Hall of Fame, played with the Tribunes in 1978 and 1979.
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