Perhaps the third time will be the charm.
A young John S. Burke Catholic baseball team has reached the state Class C semifinals two years in a row, only to be thwarted in a bid for a championship.
This time, it was Saratoga Catholic which rallied for three runs in the top of the seventh inning against a new reliever and went on to post a 5-2 victory at Union-Endicott High School on June 13.
Section 9 champion Burke, which has only two seniors, wrapped up at 16-3. Saratoga Catholic will play for the state title on Saturday.
The Eagles struck for two runs in the first inning against Saratoga starter Carson Moser. Jordan Drucker drew a one-out walk and scored on Brendan Quinn’s double to right field. Ryan Malone topped a ball toward the mound but Moser dropped the ball, moving Quinn to third. Danny Benzinger grounded out to first and Quinn scored for a 2-1 lead.
Burke stranded runners at first base in the third, fourth and fifth innings, Benzinger was left at second in the sixth – the Eagles were 0-for-5 with runners aboard in those frames. Dylan DeMaro took three bags on an infield throwing error in the seventh but Jordan Drucker popped out to center to end the game.
Drucker threw 50 pitches over the first two innings and finally got pulled with close to 110 after six. Tim Brogan took the hill and got into one-out trouble, allowing a walk, an RBI triple by Ronan Rowe, plus a botched infield grounder, walk and an RBI single, plating three Saratoga Catholic runs.
kmcmillan@th-record.com
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This article originally appeared on Times Herald-Record: Late rally dooms Burke Catholic as Saratoga Catholic prevails in state baseball semis
Reporting by Ken McMillan, Middletown Times Herald- Record / Times Herald-Record
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