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BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
Luke Hunting’s walk-off single in the bottom of the eighth inning capped off a comeback from a 4-1 deficit and gave the Rochester baseball team a 5-4 win over Maconaquah on May 11.
Maconaquah had an 11-7 advantage in hits but committed five errors, and Hunting, a junior, drove in the winning run with a hard grounder just inside the third baseline off Maconaquah reliever Tyler Stapleton.
That scored Aaron Huffman, who was running for Brayden Zink, who had reached on an error.
Hunting said he had a walk-off hit before in travel baseball, but this was his first in a high school game.
“Well, you know, bases loaded, zero outs, I was just looking to put the ball in play and hopefully get somebody in,” Hunting said. “He gave me my pitch, I turned on it and hit it down the third baseline.”
Tarick McGlothin got the win in relief. Pitching for the first time since an April 12 game against Plymouth, McGlothin hurled two scoreless innings. He allowed one hit and fanned two.
“He did what was needed, but I don’t think he’s super pleased with his performance,” Good said. “I think he just needs some more time on the mound and more game situation. And he’ll get back to where he was. But nice to see him back out there and nice to see him pick up the win for us today.”
Brayden Zink started and pitched the first three innings. He allowed four hits and four runs while walking four and striking out six. Tanner Reinartz followed with three scoreless innings, allowing six hits and one walk and fanning one.
Seven different Zebras had one hit each. Gavin Young doubled, and Reinartz, Jake Seuferer, Evan Elliott, Hunter Campbell and Landen Bumford had singles in addition to Hunting’s hit.
Hunting also received two of the walks issued by Maconaquah pitching.
Rochester took a 1-0 lead in the second inning, but the Braves scored three runs in the third and one in the fourth.
Rochester scored one run in the fifth and two in the sixth to tie it.
“We had a little bit of plate discipline today,” Good said. “We fought back. We had just better approaches and better plate discipline, I thought. Everything didn’t go our way. We hit some balls really hard at people today, but we battled. We fought back.”
Rochester was coming off a 5-3 loss to conference and sectional rival Wabash two days earlier.
“And that’s a big one when you drop four of the last five, just to get things going for everybody,” Good said.
Said Hunting: “Big boost in confidence. Everybody should be happy now.”
Rochester 5, Maconaquah 4 (8 innings)
Maconaquah 003 100 00 – 4 11 5
Rochester 010 012 01 – 5 7 0
WP – Tarick McGlothin (2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 2 K)
LP – Stapleton (2 ⅔ IP, 4 H, 3 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 3 K)
2B – Armstrong (MAC), Gavin Young (RHS)
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