Rye baseball’s season came to an end in a 9-0 regional final loss to undefeated Cornwall on Saturday.
After repeating as Section 1 champions last weekend, the Garnets (19-7) came up one win short of making back-to-back trips to the state tournament semifinals.
Cornwall (24-0) outhit Rye 14-0, scoring three runs in the second inning and five in the sixth. The Garnets had multiple base runners in three different innings, but were unable to convert the walks and errors into runs against the unbeaten winners of Section 9.
As big as the disparity was in the box score, Rye’s hopes of a rally were still alive midway through the game, especially considering the team’s ability to battle through adversity all season.
Trailing 3-0 in the fourth inning, junior Luke Ontaneda and senior Lucas London drew walks with just one out, setting the Garnets up to potentially get on the board. However, Cornwall starting pitcher Charles Rourke got his fourth strikeout, then a pop-out to end the inning.
In the fifth, pitcher Sage Caesar entered the game in relief and walked the first batter he faced, Miles Silber. Senior Michael Talbott walked to give the Garnets two base runners with no outs, but Caesar struck out the next three batters he faced. No Garnets got on base the rest of the game.
Sophomore Clayton McCarhty, who played a key role as a starting pitcher in Rye’s postseason success the past two seasons, took the loss Saturday, giving up six hits and two earned runs in two-plus innings. Sophomore Michael Bubeck and London each gave up one run in relief, but Cornwall’s five other runs were unearned.
Although it was a painful end to the season for a stellar Rye senior class, the team more than held its own after moving up to Class AA this season. Highlights of the Garnets’ second consecutive run to the state tournament included senior Jackson Pineault’s game-winning, seventh-inning double in the section championship, and senior Jamie Morris’ three-run, walk-off home run in the section semifinals.
