by Gates Mills, Ohio – Sophomore pitcher Tony Buttari threw a complete game on 99 pitches Monday afternoon, propelling the Bay Rockets to a 2-1 victory over host Gilmour Academy.
Bay struck first in the third inning.
Buttari reached on an error at third base to start the top of the third. He reached second on a sacrifice by Cooper Mendelow. After Conner Bozak reached on a fielder’s choice, Jay Rinehart hit a fly ball to left that was misplayed. Both runners would score to put the Rockets up 2-0.
This play would prove to be the difference maker.
“Scoring runs is always big in a low-scoring game. When something like that happens, we have to take advantage of it.” said Rinehart.
“We had the ball in left field that has to be caught. If it is, that’s a 1-0 ballgame right there. Other than that, the defense played solid. We have to give a nod to our starting pitcher (Will Lazzaro) who really battled. It’s unfortunate he doesn’t walk out with the win today.” said Gilmour Academy head coach John Murphy. “We have a couple things we have to clean up hitting wise, but defensively, and pitching-wise, we’re very strong. We’ll bounce back.” he added.
Gilmour Academy got on the board in the fifth when Dan Jevnikar picked up his first varsity hit. He advanced to second on a balk, and scored on a double by Mick Hopkins. However, Buttari would get through the fifth without any further damage.
The Lancers tried again in the bottom of the sixth, loading the bases on a Ben DeMell single and two two-out walks. But Tony Buttari got a groundout to get out of the frame unscathed.
Gilmour Academy sophomore pitcher Will Lazzaro threw six frames of three-hit ball on 81 pitches. Sophomore relief pitcher Will Kay struck out the side in the top of the seventh, but Tony Buttari finished off the bottom half of the frame to secure the win.
“It was a great performance by (Tony) Buttari today. We always try to preach getting ahead in the count, and he was doing a pretty decent job of that. It’s a big growth moment to get a win like that. Hopefully we can continue that.” said Bay head coach Ben Boka.
Bay improves to 2-1 and travels to Avon Tuesday afternoon.
Gilmour Academy drops to 1-1 and hosts Rocky River Tuesday afternoon.
