Rams bow to Saints in state Class B semis

By Mike Wertman, Sports Writer Posted 8 June 2018 at 8:33 pm

Photos by Cheryl Wertman – Roy-Hart’s Charlie Bruning, left, celebrates with his teammates after hitting a home run in the Rams state semifinal loss to Seton Catholic this afternoon at Maine-Endwell High School near Binghamton.

Unable to overcome an early five run deficit, Roy-Hart dropped a 7-1 decision to Seton Catholic of Binghamton in the semifinals of the state Class B baseball championships this afternoon at Maine-Endwell High School near Binghamton.

Seton Catholic jumped out to a quick 2-0 first inning lead on an RBI double by Cody Malyszek and an error as a leadoff triple by Zach Pruden set up the threat.

The Saints upped the advantage to 5-0 by tallying three times in the top of the third inning on an RBI double by Finbarr Huff, a bases loaded walk and a sacrifice fly by Michael Martin as back-to-back leadoff singles sparked the uprising.

Roy-Hart right fielder Mike Huntington stretches to make a catch as second baseman Charlie Brigham moves in.

Roy-Hart missed a golden opportunity to get back in the game in the home half of the third. The Rams got two runners aboard with just one out on singles by Noah Hardy and Karson Grover but the Saints defense came up with a huge inning ending double play to quickly wipe out the threat.

The Seton Catholic defense also turned a double play in the second inning to wipe out a potential Roy-Hart threat after Ben Schwab had leadoff with a single for the Rams.

The Rams scored their only run in the fourth inning on a leadoff home run by Charlie Bruning.

Seton Catholc though got that one right back in the fifth as winning pitcher Mason Vaughn tripled and came home on an error to make it 6-1.

A pair of errors plated an insurance run for the Saints in the sixth frame.

Roy-Hart did get runners to second and third in the bottom of the sixth after a single by Al Xapsos and a double by Jake Bruning but Vaughn quickly got out of the jam on a groundout back to the mound.

On the day, Vaughn scattered 6 hits and struck out 7,

“It’s a tough one to swallow right now,” said Roy-Hart Coach Mike Tarnowski. We’ve gotten into a hole before and I thought we would comeback but today they had the better team. They out hit us and out pitched us. I’m just so proud of our team though. They couldn’t have left their mark on school history any better.”

Roy-Hart, which advanced to the state semis by capturing the school’s first sectional and regional baseball titles, finishes at 19-3.

Seton Catholic advances to Saturday’s championship game against Center Moriches which shutout Albany Academy 4-0 in the other semifinal.