Roden, Musacchio team up to two-hit Jugglers

VVS scores in every inning of road victory

Vernon-Verona-Sherrill used a solid pitching effort and a balanced offense to beat Utica Notre Dame.

After hanging 20 runs on Jamesville-DeWitt in a road game on Monday evening, the Vernon-Verona- Sherrill baseball team was quickly back in action at noon on Tuesday at Utica Notre Dame.

The Red Devils’ bats stayed hot.

Coach Chad Hodkinson’s squad scored in every inning while Andrew Roden and Alex Musacchio teamed up to hold the Jugglers to just two hits in a 12- 0 victory.

“We threatened every inning,” said Hodkinson. “I think we had the first three or four innings we ended up with the bases loaded. We could have scratched a couple runs across earlier, it would have made it a little easier. But the kids have good at-bats and good approaches at the plate and it showed.”

Roden was dominant on the mound for his second straight start, tossing five shutout innings. The junior allowed just two hits and didn’t walk a batter while striking out 10. Musacchio pitched two innings in relief and didn’t allow a hit, walking two and striking out one.

“My curveball came on today and that helped me,” said Roden. “I had three pitches to work with and then my fastball, it was a little wild today but I still battled through it.”

He also provided the game’s

biggest blast, a two-run home run over the center field fence. It highlighted a balanced effort in which the Red Devils revealed their depth, with Tyler Rotach and Brennan Miller coming off of the bench to record two hits apiece. Roden, Miller and Davey Mof fett each drove in three runs in the victory.

“We have some depth,” said Hodkinson. “Some guys aren’t in the lineup and they’re good players. It’s not like whatever we have 10-15 aren’t players, they can play. It’s a good problem to have.”

Blake VanDreason started things off for VVS with a one-out single in the top of the first. Moffett and Roden drew consecutive walks to load the bases for Dylan Shlotzhauer, who grounded into a fielder’s choice that scored VanDreason with the game’s first run.

The Red Devils tacked on another in the top of the second, again starting a rally with one out. AJ Farina drew a walk and Jake Engler followed with a single to give the visitors two baserunners. VanDreason walked two batters later to load the bases with two outs and Moffett walked as well to force Farina home and extend the lead to 2- 0.

VVS scratched across another run in the top of the third. Shlotzhauer was hit by a pitch to open the inning and took second on a sacrifice bunt from Musacchio. Zach Nell reached on an error that put runners on the corners for Farina, who scored Shlotzhauer with an RBI single. A tag out at home and a flyout to center helped UND starter Zack Brush get through what would be his last inning without further damage and the Jugglers trailing 3- 0.

Roden’s biggest jam came in the bottom of the third when back-to-back Jugglers reached on errors with two outs. The junior got a third straight ground ball with two outs and this time his defense made the play to end the frame.

Anthony Alsante re- lieved Brush in the top of the fourth and VVS immediately jumped on the new pitcher. Moffett led off with a walk before Roden blasted his fourth home run of the year, letting out a grunt similar to the one after he homered against Oneida last week.

“Usually when I grunt it’s because I think it’s a pop fly but I didn’t even notice that I grunted that last at bat,” he said. “But yeah, it was a nice hit.”

The Red Devils weren’t done against Alsante. Musacchio doubled two batters later and Nell brought him home with a double of his own. A walk to Farina ended Alsante’s day after a third of an inning with Luke Bushey taking the mound in relief. After a wild pitch he got Engler to ground out and Farina broke for third, which was still occupied by Nell. UND tried to pick him off going back into second but Farina beat the tag and Nell raced home on the play, scoring to extend the lead to 7- 0.

Miller provided the big hit in the top of the fifth for the Red Devils with a two-run single to score Roden and Musacchio, both of whom had singled.

Rotach singled with one out in the top of the sixth and scored on a two- out double over the third-base bag by Moffett to extend the lead to 10- 0.

Musacchio took the mound in relief in the home half of the sixth and walked Brush, the first batter he faced. DeAndre Linder followed with a hard ground ball that second baseman Sam Carolla made a great diving stop on, flipping the ball to VanDreason from his stomach for a force out at second. Musacchio retired the next two batters on ground balls as well to end the inning.

Connor VanDreason walked with one out in the top of the seventh before TJ Horodnick reached on an error and Miller singled. Joe Hennessy grounded into a fielder’s choice that scored VanDreason before Rotach ripped an RBI double to plate Horodnick and extend the lead to 12- 0.

Musacchio worked around a one-out walk in the bottom of the seventh to complete the victory.