This is the final week of sectional baseball action. Five teams from Section 1 public school classes AAA through C will emerge from double-elimination semifinals and finals to qualify for state regional play.
Iona Prep will also play in the double-elimination Intersectional/City Championship.
With the playoffs continuing, so is the lohud Baseball Player of the Week, sponsored by White Plains Hospital.
Last week, with three players nominated by coaches, Stepinac’s Nilo Rodriguez earned the honor after notching two saves and having a strong outing in a starting role. In all he went 6 1/3 innings, allowing just four hits and one earned run, while striking out 10.
This week, coaches have nominated six athletes for their May 18-24 play. The poll will close at 3 p.m. Wednesday with the winner announced on lohud sports social media.
Oisin Daly, Mamaroneck
The junior righty hurled five innings of one-hit ball in the Tigers’ 10-4 Section 1 Class AAA semifinal win over Scarsdale, a squad that had beaten Mamaroneck twice during the regular season. Daly gave up three walks and struck out four.
Xander D’Onofrio, Briarcliff
The junior catcher’s eighth-inning, walk-off home run lifted the No. 2 Bears to a 14-13 Section 1 Class B semifinal win over No. 3 Pawling. D’Onofrio drove in all, the first four on a grand slam.
Gianluca Giordano, Iona Prep
The senior righty pitched a complete-game four-hitter against St. Peter’s as the Gaels won the Archdiocese Championship to advance to the Intersectional/City Championship, which will be played later this week. The Catholic University-commit allowed just two walks and struck out four in the 3-0 shutout.
Josh Goldman, Byram Hills
The senior tied the Byram Hills school record by recording his eighth win of the season in the Bobcats’ 4-0 win over Pelham in a Section 1 Class A semifinal. Goldman threw just 66 pitches in going the distance. He allowed only four hits and walked none. The righty sports a miniscule 0.66 ERA on the season and has walked just three batters in 65 2/3 innings.
Joe McGuire, Horace Greeley
The senior southpaw went six innings, giving up just two hits, no runs and striking out 10 in a Section 1 Class AA quarterfinal playoff game against Carmel that Greeley went on to win in extra innings.
Drew Wooster, Pearl River
Ina Section 1 Class A quarterfinal, the junior righty did what only one other pitcher had done all season in beating No. 1-seed Tappan Zee. Wooster hurled 6 2/3 innings of shutout ball, striking out nine, in the No. 9-seed Pirates’ 3-0 upset win. Wooster also scored in the game.
Nancy Haggerty covers sports for The Journal News/lohud.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Who’s Baseball Player of the Week, presented by White Plains Hospital?
Reporting by Nancy Haggerty, Rockland/Westchester Journal News / Rockland/Westchester Journal News
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