Corning rallies past Elmira in 'AA' baseball semifinal
Hawks earn title game rematch against Horseheads after eliminating Express with a 9-4 victory.
Andrew Legare
alegare@stargazette.com | @SGAndrewLegare
Clutch hitting, a run-saving catch in the outfield and shutdown relief pitching helped the Corning baseball team rally for a 9-4 victory over Elmira in a Section 4 Class AA baseball semifinal Tuesday afternoon at Corning-Painted Post High School.
Chris Karam gave second-seeded Corning a 5-4 lead with a two-run triple in the fifth inning and left-hander Danny Madden struck out six in two innings of relief for the save as the Hawks (14-4) overcame a 4-0 deficit to advance.
"We've been hitting the ball all year and sometimes the big hits don't come early, but you keep swinging hard and stick to the script, they start coming," Karam said.
Karam finished 3-for-4 and Zach Turner was also 3-for-4 with three RBIs, including a two-run triple that was part of a four-run sixth inning that dampened any comeback hopes for the third-seeded Express (9-11). Also for the Hawks, Madden was 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs, and Brendan Walker contributed a triple, a single and two runs.
"I tip my cap to Elmira. They came ready to play today," Corning head coach Pete Graham said. "I thought Zack Wood threw the ball really well. He gave us a challenge today. But I'm also proud of our guys. We fought back when our backs were against the wall. We were down four runs and did well situational hitting, got some guys across and luckily we got the 'W.'"
Corning earned a rematch against top-seeded Horseheads (19-1) in the sectional final at 4:30 p.m. Thursday at Elmira's Dunn Field. They split their two regular-season games this season after Horseheads won last year's sectional championship contest, 7-3. The Blue Raiders earned a bye into the title game.
"It's like déjà vu all over again," Graham said. "This is what we've been working for. This is what we talked about since the end of last year. This is our goal. Now we're here. Hopefully we can finish this thing. ... To beat Horseheads you've got to be sound fundamentally. You can't make any mistakes; you can't give them extra outs."
In that respect, Corning will have to be sharper than it was Tuesday. Two infield errors were followed by a misplay of Anthony Aumick's fly ball to right field, paving the way for four unearned Elmira runs with two outs in the third inning. Nick Root added an RBI triple and scored the final run on a wild pitch.
Hawks starter Alex Bardo was the unlucky recipient of the gaffes, leading Graham to call on Nate Gorges with two outs in the inning. Gorges ended up pitching 2⅓ innings of scoreless relief. Madden struck out the side in the sixth and seventh innings, with the final two strikeouts coming after Elmira loaded the bases with one out.
Horseheads boys, girls seek lacrosse titles
Lansing baseball tops Edison in sectional semis
As those two quieted Elmira's bats, the Corning offense came alive with a pair of two-out rallies of its own. Four hits and an Elmira error led to a three-run third for the Hawks.
Elmira was poised to tack on at least one run to its lead in the fourth when Hawks center fielder Carston Kopf raced back and made a lunging catch on a shot off the bat of Matt Lovejoy after Jaylun Smolin singled with two outs.
"I thought the turning point in the game was when Matt Lovejoy hit that ball to center field and Kopf made an outstanding play," Elmira head coach Jason Manwaring said. "I think that killed the momentum for us a little bit and it took the wind out of our sail. But I give a lot of credit to them. They kept battling down 4-0. They kept chipping away."
With the lead still 4-3 in the bottom of the fifth, Wood retired the first two batters in routine fashion. But a walk to Ben Terwilliger and a ground-rule double by Turner brought up Karam with two outs. He jumped on a Wood fastball and lined it over Smolin's head in right field to drive in the go-ahead runs.
"Just looking fastball early in the count," Karam said. "He just left it there and I made him pay for it."
Turner's two-run triple was the big blow in the seventh inning as the Hawks extended their lead to five runs. Corning finished with 12 hits, including five for extra bases.
Wood's strong sophomore season on the mound finally came to an end with one out in the sixth when Andrew Johnson took over.
On Twitter: @SGAndrewLegare