The Rye baseball team split two games against New York opponents during the first two days of its annual spring training trip in Florida.
In a battle of defending Section 1 champions, the Garnets held their own against Class AAA Ketcham, taking a sixth-inning lead before falling 10-7 on Monday. Early Tuesday morning, Rye was ready for action, scoring 12 runs in the first two innings of a 17-9 win against Pelham.
Against Ketcham, junior Luke Ontaneda went 3-for-4 with three RBIs. Jackson Pineault drove in fellow senior Jamie Morris for a 1-0 lead in the first inning. The Storm evened the score in the bottom of the inning, then added four runs in the second.
Rye had a four-run inning of its own in the fifth, cutting the deficit to 6-5 with hits by seniors Nolan Hutson, Morris, Harry Ellis, and a sac fly by Lucas London. The Garnets then added two more runs in the sixth, going ahead 7-5 with a leadoff double by senior Michael Talbott, and a two-run single by Ellis.
In the bottom of the sixth, Ketcham scored four runs to reclaim the lead. Junior Ben Fineberg led off the seventh with a hit for Rye, but the Garnets’ final three batters struck out.
Against Pelham, London had three hits, while Hutson, Ellis, and Morris each had two hits apiece. Hutson led the game off with a hit, and Ontaneda drove him in with a sac fly. Ellis singled, and London doubled to drive in two more runs. Pelham committed back-to-back errors, then a walk to load the bases before finally walking in a run to give Rye a 5-0 lead.
Pelham answered with five runs in the bottom of the first, then Rye exploded for seven more runs in the second, going ahead 12-5. Ellis, London, Fineberg, and Michael Bubeck hit four consecutive singles, then Morris doubled to drive in two runs. An Ontaneda line drive to left field scored Morris.
Talbott pitched 5 2/3 innings, striking out seven and allowing just one run, one hit, and two walks. The Garnets added two more runs in the sixth and seventh innings, going ahead 17-7, before Pelham scored a pair in the bottom of the seventh.
