CENTRAL NEW YORK – What a split of a tough series with Westhill proved for the Christian Brothers Academy baseball team was that it had the ability to strike big at any time – and also get struck.
Aware of its vulnerabilities, the Brothers proceeded to mask all of them in a barrage of hits that, in just four innings, produced enough runs to evoke the mercy rule last Tuesday in a 20-0 victory over Mexico.
Already with a 6-0 lead thanks to early success at the plate, CBA then unloaded for 14 runs in the bottom of the fourth, going through the batting order twice by the time it was done.
Cooper Marko went four-for-five, including a double, and finished with four RBIs. Jimmy Kennedy tripled, doubled and drove in three runs, with Mike Giamartino adding a pair of RBIs.
Kennedy, Riley Clemons-Butenko, Kennedy and Ethan Harris each scored three times, while Ryan Petrie pitched four solid innings, only surrendering one hit and amassing seven strikeouts.
Weather kept CBA off the field until Saturday, when it met two different Section V opponents in the Rochester area and emerged from those games with a split.
First, there was an 8-2 defeat to Fairport, with most of the game a tense pitcher’s battle as Petrie went five strong innings and only allowed one run before tiring in the sixth.
Fairport’s seven runs in the sixth decided matters, since both CBA runs came in the top of the seventh courtesy of RBIs from Clemons-Butenko and Ben Snyder that drove in Giamartino and Harris.
Far better was the second game, an 11-2 win over Rochester McQuaid where the Brothers scored three times in each of the first two innings, added a run in the third and put home four runs in the fifth.
Clemons-Butenko set the tone, going four-for-four with three singles, a double, three runs scored and two RBIs. Jack Landau’s pair of doubles led to four RBIs as Giamartino homered, doubled and got four RBIs of his own. Landau also pitched five innings to earn the win, holding McQuaid to three hits.
Bishop Grimes handled Syracuse City 8-2 last Monday for its first win of the season, scoring in each of the first four innings and tacking on a three-run seventh.
Frank Sgroi pitched five innings to get the win, helped by two innings of no-hit relief from Owen Tierney. Dakota Benoit’s pair of singles led to three RBIs, Sgroi and Ben Carroll each driving in a pair of runs with their two hits.
