The top seed in Class A2, the Batavia Blue Devils, bested 8 seed Geneva Panthers at Dwyer Stadium for the section V quarterfinal matchup Friday afternoon.
Greg Mruczek pitched the first couple innings. Geneva made some key hits and took control early after two innings leading 2-1.
Trevor Sherwood pitched the next three innings as the game remained the same. Senior Alex Canty hit a triple in the third inning to get within scoring range. Geneva held strong and Batavia could not get a break.
Batavia pitcher Alex Jones came in the last two innings to hold off Geneva from scoring. The score was set at 2-1 score until the bottom of the seventh inning, senior Steven Stefaniak got a base hit to lead off senior Tyler Hale, who was up next and hit a triple to bring Stefaniak in for Batavia to tie the game 2-2.
Geneva was in trouble with one out, took a timeout to plan their strategy with two heavy hitters, Senior Alex Canty and Junior Jerry Reinhart up next. Geneva intentionally walked them both Alex to 2nd base, Jerry to 1st, bases loaded.
Batavia called timeout, Tyler’s twin brother Senior Jake Hale was at the plate.
"I have been playing baseball my whole life and told my brother to get the ball to the left side and knew he would come through," Tyler said. "It may not have been a hard hit ball but it got in play and scored the run."
Jake Hale hit a grounder to the left of home plate, dug in the dirt bounced in the air. Tyler made a run to home plate, the pitcher came in grabbed the ball, bobbled it, lost his grip and went in the air. He slid into home plate and Batavia won 3-2.
Jake Hales thoughts before taking the plate: "I went up there just to play baseball, waiting for my pitch to hit and swung and missed at one, took one that was low in the dirt. I found the one but barely got a piece of it and then ended up bringing Tyler in. I ran to first as fast as I could hoping I would not get out, but then when I heard the cheers I knew my brother made the run and we won the game, then excitement took over."
Batavia plays 4 seed Wayne at Hilton High School, Tuesday at 4:30 p.m.
For more photos go to: Steve Ognibene Photography
