Paul Gotham
Greater Rochester Area

Prep Baseball Report, New York’s Section 5 game of the week did not disappoint as the undefeated Penfield Patriots needed extra innings to defeat Greece Athena’s Trojans, 6-2. Starters Jack Burke (Penfield) and Nick Jackson (Athena) locked horns for six-plus before giving way to the bullpens.

Doing It With Two: Penfield’s ability to reach base with two outs is nothing short of uncanny. All six of the Patriots’ runs came as the result of two-out at bats including the decisive five-run ninth which started with Burke slapping a single to center after the first two batters of the inning were retired. In all, Penfield collected 11 two-out hits in the game. Two other batters reached via hit by pitch with two away, and Jack Hartnett kept the decisive rally going when his ground ball to left side of the infield was mishandled. Last Friday, Penfield scored six of its eight runs with two outs in an 8-3 win over Fairport. 

Opening The Flood Gates: Noah Wulforst plated two with a double down the left field. Luke Westervelt followed with a triple in the alley in left center. Kyle Straube made it a 6-1 game with a single over shortstop.

Putting Out The Fire: It wasn’t until the seventh that Burke started missing up in the zone. After a one-out single and a walk, it looked like Athena would get a walkoff win. That is until Jack DeRue came on in relief for Penfield. The 5-7 right-hander ended the threat getting a routine fly ball and a punch out to send the game to extras.

Burke was in rhythm from the outset getting a good bite on his 11/7 breaking ball. The 6-0 right-hander got ahead early in counts and was able to throw his curve ball in fastballs counts. He struck out three and retired another 11 on ground ball outs.

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