(Penfield, NY) The Penfield Patriot JV baseball team continued its winning ways with its second win in as many games in a narrow 6-4 victory over the Churchville-Chili Saints on a chilly Thursday afternoon on the varsity diamond at Penfield High School with the mercury hovering in the 40s. P.J. Gerlach pitched 4 1/3 innings of solid scoreless relief to earn the win, retiring nine consecutive batters at one stretch, in a game where neither starter lasted past the third inning. Catcher Zach Cicero led a quartet of Pats who collected two hits apiece along with third baseman James Tantalo and outfielders Brian Chernak and Brian Colombo.
Paul Watrobski started on the mound for Penfield and retired the side in order in the first frame on two popups and a groundout. The Patriots built an early lead in their half of the inning starting with Chernak and shortstop Mick Ercole earning walks and both moving into scoring position on a Saints wild pitch. Cicero’s first single brought both runners home and Tantalo followed with a double to left-center field to move Cicero over to third. The next batter, first baseman Trevor Quiel, struck out but the visiting catcher failed to handle the third strike cleanly and Quiel sped to first to load the bases on the miscue. However, Penfield failed to take advantage of the situation – and potentially to break the game wide open – with a strikeout and groundout from the next two batters. Those three stranded Patriot runners were the first of nine men left on base for the day.
In the visitor’s half of the second inning, Watrobski got into early trouble, issuing consecutive walks to the first two batters, and the third batter driving a double to the gap in left center to drive in Churchville’s first run of the game. One sacrifice fly later to right field saw the early lead erased and the score knotted at 2-2. Watrobski then settled down and struck out the last two batters to stem the tide.
The Pats went right back to work in the bottom of the second after a leadoff pop out to the third baseman. Chernak stroked a one-out ground ball single through the infield and later stole second to move into scoring position. After a fly out, Watrobski dropped a short fly into left-center for an RBI single to bring home Chernak and regain the Patriot lead. Cicero drove a line drive single to left center to move Watrobski into scoring position and Tantalo followed with an RBI single with another drive to left field sending Watrobski home to rebuild the two-run lead for the JV team.
The back-and-forth battle continued in the third inning after a fly out to short right field from Saints’ leadoff hitter. Control problems continued to plague the Penfield starter leading to a bases-loaded jam with two walks and a hit batter sandwiched around a strikeout. Head coach Nick Marcin pulled the plug at that point and brought on Gerlach in relief. After surrendering a game-tying two-RBI single into the left center gap to the first batter he faced, the inning was brought to a close as Cicero nailed a would-be base stealer with a perfect throw to Tantalo at third.
Colombo started the home half of the third inning with his first single of the day into left field. Mark Huddle then converted a sacrifice bunt attempt into an infield single with perfect placement and great hustle up the first base line. Following a strikeout, Chernak loaded the bases with a seeing-eye single through the left side of the infield. A bases-loaded RBI walk to Ercole pushed a run home and gave the Patriots the lead for good. Despite squandering another bases-loaded opportunity with a pair of strikeouts, the home team did manage to add another run as Huddle darted home on a wild pitch during that sequence to rebuild a two-run lead.
That point would mark the end of any more offensive threats for either team as pitching and defense dominated and opposing lineups were locked down. Gerlach allowed only two more baserunners in his outing – one on a harmless fourth-inning two-out single and the other on a two-out pop fly mishandled by the Patriots shortstop. The Churchville-Chili reliever was as effective – surrendering Colombo’s second single in the fourth inning and allowing Chernak to reach first base following a passed-ball strikeout in the fifth. The final offensive highlight of the contest came with Chernak executing a nifty move on a steal of second base – evading a nearly perfect throw on the first base side of the bag from the catcher with a wide slide and a hand-and-knees crawl back to the bag.
“It was one of those seesaw type games,” offered Coach Marcin. “Our guys kept fighting, we got base hits when we need them, P.J. did a sensational job [in relief] …we’re doing all the little things right.” In fact, Penfield was very opportunistic in the victory despite the large number of stranded baserunners and a collective thirteen team strikeouts on the afternoon. “We’re running the bases well, [showing] fantastic hustle, guys getting down to first on dropped third strikes …a total team effort.”
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