The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
VVS goes to bat against Adirondack
No. 3 VVS plates four in bottom of sixth to drop No. 11 Adirondack
VERONA, N.Y. » Trailing No. 11 Adirondack 1- 0 heading into the bottom of the sixth during Wednesday’s Section III Class B quarterfinal contest, Vernon-Verona-Sherrill was in desperate need of an answer to Adirondack starter Alex Gaylord.
VVS found that answer in the sixth.
Adirondack’s ace held VVS to four hits and no runs through the first five frames, but the Red Devil seniors came through in a big way in the sixth, plating four runs en route to a 4-1 comeback win to secure a spot as one of the last four teams standing in Class B.
“I think the seniors are a big thing. We are so close. Once one gets rolling, we are going to all get rolling... Our biggest thing is we have to stay up,” VVS second baseman Alex Kipp said. “That’s just how our team goes. That’s what the attitude has to be.”
Tyler Rotach went 2-for-3 with a double and RBI to pace the Red Devils at the plate. Bryce Cousin followed going 1-for-3 with an RBI on a go-ahead double in the bottom of the sixth. Kipp went 1-for-3 with the game-tying RBI, and fellow senior Blake VanDreason went 2-for-3 with a triple and run scored.
VanDreason also picked up
the win on the hill, holding Adirondack scoreless on one hit, no walks and six strikeouts. Jake Horodnick pitched three strong innings of one-run ball, striking out six of his own.
“Gaylord threw well,” Hodkinson said. “You have to be good to win sectionals, but you have to have a little bit of luck go your way as well.”
“The lineup kind of stalled out. No fault of our own, more credit to Gaylord out there. Once we got a couple, two or three guys on, then they started believing again. He had us shaking our heads for five straight innings.”
Adam Serra gave Adirondack the first lead of the afternoon on a base knock that drove in Spencer Hamilton in the top of the second.
Adirondack threatened again in the top of the third, but Horodnick was able to work out of trouble. After striking out the first two batters he faced, the VVS senior issued a walk. A hit batter and another walk loaded the bases with two outs, but Horodnick got Lanse Allen to ground out to second to close the frame with no damage done.
The Red Devils put a runner in scoring position in the bottom half of the frame when Andrew Wuest wheeled his way to first on an infield single. An intentional walk to VanDreason in the next at-bat put a pair aboard with two outs, but Gaylord induced a chopper to second to escape the inning.
VanDreason entered for Horodnick in the top of the fourth and promptly struck out the first two batters he faced. Keegan Case connected for a single in the next at-bat, moving into scoring position on a steal, but VanDreason responded with a strikeout to exit the frame.
VVS put a runner in scoring position in the fourth when Rotach roped a twoout double over the Adirondack outfield, but Gaylord induced a pop-up to short to strand the VVS third baseman.
After four, VVS trailed 1-0.
VanDreason picked up right where he left off in the top of the fifth. The Red Devil senior struck out two and made a nice grab on a grounder back to the mound for a 1-2-3 inning.
Gaylord, however, countered with a 1-2-3 inning of his own in the bottom half of the frame to keep his team up 1-0.
Then, VVS made its move. VanDreason led off the bottom of the sixth with an infield single to bring up Kipp. Facing a 1-2 count, the Red Devil second baseman singled to the right side of the infield, scoring VanDreason and tying the contest at 1-1.
“Not going to lie, I was a little nervous. The past couple years, VVS’ biggest thing that everyone talks about is having the talent but not succeeding,” Kipp said of his thought process at the plate. “In that situation, going 0-for-2. [I was] just staying within myself, not trying to kill the ball. Just needed to get a base hit to advance the runners.”
“Kipp is our leading hitter. I don’t want to lose him, but it’s a one run game,” Hodkinson said, breaking down the tying run. “You’re thinking which way to go, and finally, I said, ‘ You know what, we can’t sit on our hands, we have to put a little play on...It just happened to work out perfect. If Blake is not going, he probably doesn’t score on that play.”
“I was just trying to run hard and get something going. I saw it go through and was just trying to run my hardest. I saw coach sending me home and just started trying to run faster,” VanDreason laughed.
The rally didn’t stop there, though. Cousin hammered a double to plate Kolton Wong, who was pinch-running for Kipp, for the go-ahead run and chase Gaylord for Ethan Martin.
The Red Devils, though, were just getting started.
After a Brennan Miller sacrifice moved Cousin to third, Rotach singled to center field to score Cousin. A batter later, Ryan Shantal legged out an infield single, and Bryce Palmer’s speed forced an error at short to load the bases for hosts. Wuest came through with an RBI single to put VVS up 4-1 before Martin retired VanDreason on a deep fly ball to center to close the inning.
After the fireworks in the sixth, VanDreason worked another 1-2-3 inning in the top of the seventh and secure the Red Devils a spot in the Class B semifinals, where they will face No. 7 Westhill at Murnane Field on Friday, May 31.
“This year, we are just all together. As a team, we are all close. We all fight as a team, lose as a team. Today, we got lucky and we were able to win as a team. It felt good,” VanDreason said. “Just keep playing our game, play as a team and we will be alright.”
“Keep it rolling. Keep the enthusiasm,” Hodkinson added. “Keep the energy. I told them three things: they need effort, they need focus and they need enjoyment. After that, we accept whatever happens.”