Tribune nine fall to UConn-Avery Point

By PAUL GOTHAM

Jack Keagle (Pittsford, N.Y./Pittsford Mendon) struck out four over six innings and left with a 3-1 lead in Game 1 of the NJCAA Division II East District play-in, but it wasn't enough. Monroe Community College dropped back-to-back games to UConn-Avery Point (4-7/3-6) at Washington Park in Groton, Connecticut. 

The losses ended the season for MCC (24-14). 

Keagle allowed one run on four hits and one walk. After surrendering a run in the first, the freshman left-hander matched his longest outing of the season and retired the last 11 batters he faced. 

Joe Wintermute (Rochester, N.Y./Irondequoit HS) gave Monroe a 2-1 lead with a double in the third inning. CJ Phelps (Rochester, N.Y./McQuaid Jesuit) and Lucas Brown (Toronto, ON/Humberside Collegiate) scored on the play. 

Brown walked, stole second and eventually came home on a Tobey Wright (Rochester, N.Y./Rush-Henrietta) sacrifice for a 3-1 lead heading into the sixth. Alex Simons (Webster, N.Y./Webster Schroeder) walked and eventually crossed the plate on a wild pitch to give the Tribunes a three-run advantage in the seventh. 

Avery Point sent nine to the plate in the home half of the seventh and scored four runs to take a lead that the Pointers did not relinquish. 

Brown, Phelps, Simons, Wintermute and Connor Sackett (Fairport, N.Y./Fairport HS) each finished with a hit and a walk in the Game 1 loss. Joe Grzeskkowiak(Rochester, N.Y./Rush-Henrietta) accounted for a single. Paul Fiene (Ronkonkoma, N.Y./Sachem North) walked. 

MCC trailed throughout the Game 2 loss. Avery Point (playing as the visitors in Saturday's matchup) scored two runs in the top of the first and three more in the fourth for a 5-2 lead. 

Wright finished 2-for-3 with a run scored in the loss. Sackett singled, walked and drove in a run. Grzeskowiak walked and accounted for an RBI with a sacrifice. Brown added a single. Evan Brock(Rochester, N.Y./Rush-Henrietta) was 1-for-2 and crossed home once. 

The Tribunes, which had a 12-game stretch in April without making multiple errors in a single contest, committed four fielding miscues in Saturday's defeat. MCC made four errors combined in the previous six games heading into the weekend's action.

MCC had won 12 of 13 games including a doubleheader sweep of Region 15 Champion, Sullivan County Community College. 

Avery Point will face Sullivan CC and Region 19 Champion, Mercer County CC in the East District Championship this weekend.