Flory’s 2-run single, Reinartz’s 9 Ks help Rochester nab TRC title share

BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS

Sports Editor, RTC

Brady Coleman Brayson Flory

WALTON — After a 12-1 nonconference loss to Bremen at home Thursday, Rochester baseball coach Cory Good said players told him they would be ready to play against Lewis Cass with the Three Rivers Conference title on the line Friday.

The hitters were ready, bashing away 13 hits, drawing eight walks and getting hit by three pitches against five King pitchers on their way to a 12-7 win.

Rochester scored in six different innings, and in the only inning in which they did not score, they left the bases loaded.

Rochester improved to 19-6 and finished TRC play 7-2. They shared the conference title with Northwestern, who beat Maconaquah 9-5 Wednesday. Maconaquah finished third at 6-3.

This is Rochester’s third TRC title under Good. They shared the conference crown in 2019 with Southwood and won it outright with a 9-0 record in 2023.

Lewis Cass dropped to 12-13, 5-4.

Tanner Reinartz retired 10 consecutive batters at one point and finished with nine strikeouts over five innings for the win. Brady Coleman allowed three runs in the sixth.

Taking no chances with a five-run lead, ace Carson Paulik finished it out in the seventh and ended with a strikeout of Julian Davidson to end a contest that lasted two hours and 55 minutes.

“I’m very happy with the way that we went out and bounced back from last night really,” Good said. “Rough game last night. These guys were pretty confident that it wasn’t going to affect them and they were going to be ready to go today, and they were. It wasn’t easy. Cass fought the whole game and scored seven in the fifth and the sixth. … A lot of fight from those guys. A well-coached team. A very tradition-rich program. Good win for us. I was proud of the way that we bounced back tonight.”

The Zebras built a 6-0 lead after four innings before Lewis Cass broke through for four runs off Reinartz in the fifth.

But Rochester answered with four runs in the top of the sixth, all with two outs. Freshman Brayson Flory had a pinch-hit two-out, two-run single that made it 8-4, and after Drew Bowers followed with a walk, Coleman nailed a two-run double to deep right-center to rebuild a six-run lead.

Bowers went 1 for 2 with an RBI, two walks and three runs scored. He and Reinartz are the only two seniors in the starting lineup. By contrast, Lewis Cass had seven senior starters.

“It feels good,” Bowers said. “It’s one of the goals we set at the start of the season that we accomplished. Next thing is to move on to sectionals.”

Jonny Mack grounded into a forceout to bring home a run, and Trevor Rowe socked a two-out, two-run double to deep left-center to make it 10-7 in the sixth, but Coleman got the third out on Wade Tocco’s grounder to first.

A throwing error with two outs in the top of the seventh on a Conner Dunfee grounder allowed Reinartz and Brant Beck to score and extend the lead to five.

Coleman and Parker Casper, the top two hitters in the order, had three hits each, and Reinartz had two hits and two walks. Ten different Rochester players batted. Eight of them had at least one hit, and all 10 got on base at least once. But the biggest hit might have belonged to Flory.

“Massive,” Good said. “Huge hit, two outs. We scored four and answered back after they scored four off us in the bottom of the fifth. We put him in a huge spot. It’s been tough to get him some reps. Wilburn has been getting some good swings in. We got guys on the bench that can play. It’s a tough spot for those guys to be in, but it’s a credit to this team that we just got a lot of guys that can go out there and give us good swings, play good defense and throw strikes, whatever the case may be. Brayson was big today. That was huge for him. I think it will do a ton for his confidence. It couldn’t happen to a better kid.”

Rochester scored in the first when Reinartz scored on a wild pitch. Bowers received credit for an RBI on a bizarre play in the second: With Dunfee on second and Linden Wilburn on first, he hit a grounder to Rowe at short. Rowe stepped on second for a forceout. He then turned around and threw to third to try and catch Dunfee overrunning the bag. When Dunfee saw the throw, he headed home, and he appeared to be tagged out at the plate, but the home plate umpire called dead-ball obstruction, and Dunfee was ruled safe.

Wilburn, even though he was out, kept running to third, and the throw there from catcher Braylen Mayhill was late, and Bowers scooted into second.

After long conversations between Lewis Cass coach Greg Marschand and each umpire and then the two umpires with each other, they untangled the mess and upheld the obstruction call, ruled Wilburn out and determined that Bowers had to return to first.

Bowers then stole second, and he scored on Casper’s double to deep left, but Casper was thrown out trying to stretch it into a triple.

Beck lined a sacrifice fly to right in the third to score Reinartz, who had singled.

Bowers led off the fourth with a walk, and Coleman followed with a single. They would later score when Paulik lined a two-strike single to right to make it 6-0.

Davidson led off the fifth with a bloop single, and Reinartz then hit Bryce Rudd and walked Mayhill to load the bases. A wild pitch made it 6-1.

Row but then hit a grounder in the direction of Coleman at shortstop. The ball took a funny hop, and Coleman reached behind him with his bare hand and threw to first for an out. Lewis Cass had a run to make it 6-2, but Good later compared the play to a Hall of Famer.

“A little Ozzie Smith there,” Good said.

Rochester 12, Lewis Cass 7

Rochester 121 204 2 – 12 13 1

Lewis Cass 000 043 0 – 7 6 1

WP – Tanner Reinartz (5 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 2 BB, 2 HBP, 9 K)

LP – Brennan Deeter (2 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 1 BB, 0 K)

2B – Brady Coleman (RHS), Parker Casper (RHS), Trevor Rowe (LC), Owen Cotner-Graves (LC)