Rye baseball’s 15-game win streak came to an end in the sectional playoffs Tuesday, but the Garnets are still alive in the double-elimination tournament.
Top-seeded Panas scored four runs in the fifth and sixth innings to come back for a 9-3 win and advance to Saturday’s section tournament championship.
No. 2 seed Rye (19-4) will need to win Wednesday against No. 3 seed Nanuet (18-6), the opponent they just beat 4-1 last weekend, to get another shot at Panas (20-4) in the championship. The Garnets would then need to beat Panas on Saturday, and again on Sunday, at SUNY Purchase to claim the Section 1 Class A crown.
Junior Jackson Pineault and sophomore Luke Ontaneda both singled in runs to give Rye a 3-1 lead in the fifth inning. The Panthers responded to take their first lead in the bottom of the inning and added four more runs in the sixth. Both teams had eight hits, with Pineault, Ontaneda and junior Nolan Hutson all logging two-hit games for Rye.
Freshman pitcher Clayton McCarthy allowed just one run in the first four innings before the Panthers’ late-game surge.
