Paul Gotham
Greater Rochester Area

McQuaid 6     Bishop Kearney 0

McQuaid Jesuit continues to roll under first-year head coach Tony Fuller. Erik Johnson tossed a 3-hitter as the Knights improved to 9-3 with a 6-0 victory over Bishop Kearney. The win was the fifth straight for the Knights.

Quick study
Johnson incorporated a slider he learned earlier in the day from pitching coach Dusty Odenbach. The sophomore used it as his “put-away pitch” fanning eight while walking just one.  After allowing a leadoff single to start the game, the sophomore left-hander set down the next 13 batters he faced. The southpaw finished with 10 ground ball outs and two infield pop ups. He did not surrender a fly ball to the outfield until the final out of the game. All three of the hits he allowed were infield singles. Johnson has allowed two runs (one earned) over his last 14 and two-thirds innings of work (three appearances). He tossed a scoreless inning in relief against Clarence (Section VI) on Saturday. Last Tuesday, he went 6.2 in a 5-2 win over Livonia.

Living large with small ball
McQuaid stole eight bases on the day and used the sacrifice bunt in two situations. The Knights first run of the day started with Nick Tomei reaching on a leadoff bunt single in the first. Two stolen bases later, Monroe CC commit Jonathon Catapano brought home the game’s first run with a groundball to the right side of the infield.

Knowing the rule book
Yes, players can re-enter high school baseball games. With that in mind, Christian Palawek delivered a two-out, two-out RBI pinch hit as McQuaid took a 4-0 lead in the fourth. Palawek pinch hit for McQuaid’s catcher Matthew Blewjas. The sure-handed Blejwas then finished out the game behind the dish for the Knight.  

Getting down the line
Todd LaRocca collected two of Kearney’s three hits – both of the infield kind. His first, leading off the game, took an odd bounce off the mound and forced the shortstop to change direction. But his second was a hard-hit ball fielded on the third bounce, and the Kearney senior running just a hair over four seconds down the line beat the throw.

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