By PAUL GOTHAM
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — As the postseason continues and teams look ahead to advancing in the state tournament, secondary pitchers become as important as the ace of a staff.
With pitch-count rules in effect, Haverling’s Gage Thomas played shortstop Monday night at ESL Ballpark.
Enter Dylan Wenban with the Rams playoff lives on the line.
Wenban hurled six-plus innings, and Haverling held off a late push to beat Wellsville, 6-5.
“I knew since Gage threw a great game the other day that I was gonna have to come out and, you know, be that guy today,” the senior right-hander said. “And I came out, I knew they were gonna swing the bat, so I was just gonna throw it over the plate, throw my junk, get fly balls for my team, and they did great behind me.”
VIEW MORE PHOTOS FROM STEVEN TWARDZIK.
Wenban struck out one without issuing a walk and allowed five runs (four earned) on 10 hits.
“Today, (I threw) a lot of curveballs, a lot of sliders, keeping them off the plate, getting them off the end of the bat, and it was working,” he said. “All year, my stuff has not worked, and I came in and it was working today. It was just great.”
Haverling (21-3) has scored in double figures on 12 different occasions this season. Monday’s win was the second straight by one run and the third scoring six or fewer runs.
“I told them in the postseason, you’re not gonna blow teams out,” Haverling head coach Sean Eighmey said of the message to his squad. “Yeah, we’ve hit the ball. We’ve hit the ball like crazy. We’ve broken a lot of records at the school, but those don’t mean anything when it comes to postseason. I told them, they’re gonna be one-run games, and you’re gonna have to stay in it.”
The Rams made the most of the four hits they had on the night.
Asher Phenes and Dayton Orlowske accounted for an RBI apiece in a four-run fifth inning when Haverling scored four times to take a 6-3 lead.
Eric Carney-Hendrix drew a walk to lead the decisive frame and scored on the double from Phenes. Wenban walked, and a wild pitch on the fourth ball put runners on the corners. Wenban and Phenes executed a delayed steal with Phenes crossing home. Wenban eventually scored on a wild pitch.
Lukas Wightman got the last three outs of the game to register a save.
Mason Davis singled and scored in the win. Thomas walked and crossed home.
Wellsville’s Brennen Geffers led the seventh with a triple into the right corner. Trenton Green’s bloop single drove in Geffers. Matt Ritter reached on hit by pitch to put the tying run on base for the Lions (14-8).
Haverling will face Section VI champion Medina in the NYS Class B sub-regional. That game is scheduled for Tuesday night at Frontier High School.
Leave a Reply