Perfection is still in play for Section 9 Class AA baseball champion Cornwall.
The Dragons posted a 9-0, no-hit shutout of Section 1 champ Rye in a state quarterfinal playoff in Saugerties on Saturday, June 6. Cornwall, the top-ranked team in New York, moved to 24-0, and will play in next week’s state Final Four in Binghamton.
The Dragons will get a pro’s showcase with a prime-time state semifinal on Friday, June 12, at Morabito Stadium, host of the Binghamton Rumble Ponies, the Mets’ farm team. Cornwall will face Long Island champion Hauppauge or Kennedy (those teams meet later Saturday afternoon) in a 7p.m. contest. The final is also at Morabito on Saturday at 4 p.m.
Charles Rourke got the win with four hitless innings (four runners did reach, though). Sage Caesar moved from second base to the mound, completing the task with three hitless frames, allowing two base runners and striking out six.
Cornwall collected 12 base hits, putting up five runs in the sixth inning and nearly completing a mercy rule finish. Caesar had three hits from the No. 7 spot in the batting order and Richie Roohan, Tyler Maus and Dan Twomey each had two singles. Aaden Hershberger and Caesar each had two RBI.
Cornwall tagged Rye starter Clayton McCarthy with three singles by Twomey, Caesar and Matt Finn and a sacrifice fly by Hershberger to seize a 3-0 lead in the second inning. In the fifth, Maus drew a walk from reliever Michael Bubeck and later scored on a wild pitch that bounced out front.
Third Rye pitcher Lucas London struggled in the Cornwall sixth. Finn took two bags on a bunt attempt that was thrown away. Hershberger rolled an RBI single up the middle and took second on a Colin Steiner bunt. Roohan delivered an RBI single. Maus hit an RBI single to left-center, scoring Roohan, and Twomey chased London with a single to left. Fourth pitcher Michael Talbott dealt a 2-0 pitch that Caesar took to the warning track in center for a two-run double. Hunter Salisbury singled to left field but Caesar was gunned down shy of home plate on what would have been the tenth run.
Rye concludes the season at 17-6.
kmcmillan@th-record.com
X / Twitter: @KenMcMillanTHR
This article originally appeared on Times Herald-Record: Baseball – Cornwall moves to 24-0, blanks Rye 9-0 in state quarters
Reporting by Ken McMillan, Middletown Times Herald- Record / Times Herald-Record
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By Ken McMillan, Middletown Times Herald- Record | USA TODAY Network
