Baseball Drops Game One of East District Playoff

BRIGHTON, N.Y. -- Monroe Community College Baseball cut an eight-run deficit to four and ultimately pulled to within three, but the host Tribunes did not get any closer and dropped a 13-10 decision to UConn-Avery Point (UCAP) in Game 1 of the NJCAA Division II East District playoff on Friday.

Game 2 of the best-of-three series is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Saturday at Alumni Field on the campus of Monroe Community College.

Trailing 10-2, CJ Phelps (Rochester, N.Y./McQuaid Jesuit) drove in two runs with a base hit and scored on an Avery Bowens (Rochester, N.Y./Eastridge) double as Monroe cut the deficit to five at 10-5 in the fifth inning. One inning later, Patrick May (Baldwinsville, N.Y./C.W. Baker) singled and eventually scored on a Dylan Wanat (Buffalo, N.Y./Williamsville North) sacrifice fly to make it a four-run game at 10-6. 

Ryan Stewart (Auburn, N.Y./Auburn High) plated two with a triple in the eighth.

Trailing 13-8 in the ninth, Monroe put three straight on base with one out. Phelps scored on a Connor Sackett (Rochester, N.Y./Fairport High) single, and Bowens came home on May's RBI groundout. Sackett was left stranded to end the game.

May, Phelps and Stewart each finished 2-for-5 on the day with two RBI. May doubled and scored twice. Phelps crossed home three times. Bowens went 2-for-3 with two walks, two RBI and a run scored. Sackett had two hits in two at-bats with an RBI and run scored.

Alex Simons (Webster, N.Y./Webster Schroeder) was 2-for-3. Wanat singled, walked, drove in two and scored twice. Lucas Brown (Toronto, ON/Humberside Collegiate Institute) and Joe Grzeskowiak (Henrietta, N.Y./Rush-Henrietta) had a single apiece.

Monroe outhit UCAP 16-13.

Avery Point's third inning proved to be the undoing for Monroe when the Pointers used one hit to score five runs - all coming with two outs. The lone hit from the Pointers in the inning came off the bat of Vance Ward - a ground ball up the middle with bases loaded that Brown squared and prepared to field for a force out before the ball caromed off the second-base bag and over the head of the MCC shortstop.

An error on the next play brought home two more runs. Monroe trailed 9-2. UCAP added another run in the fourth for its largest lead of the day at 10-2.

In all, Monroe pitchers issued nine walks and hit three batters. That combined with three errors created an insurmountable deficit.

Lucas Connors (Brampton, ON/Heart Lake) struck out one and allowed three runs on three hits and four walks over 3.2 innings of relief work. Matthew Salina (Webster, N.Y./Webster Schroeder) fanned three over 2.2 innings in which the right-hander allowed one run on four hits and two walks.

UCAP has now taken four of five in head-to-head matchups this season. The Pointers won three of four in mid-April when neither team scored more than five runs in any single game over the two days in Groton, CT. Those games were played in 40-degree temperatures - a stark contrast to Friday's game played in the low-80s with a gentle summer-like breeze.