Candor didn’t exactly use smoke and mirrors to eke out a semifinals win over Walton Tuesday. But the Indians were certainly opportunistic in manufacturing five runs on just two basehits.
The 5-4 win for the number four seed set up a Class C baseball finals matchup against Oxford (19-3), who upended number two seed Elmira Notre Dame, 7-3. The schools will play at 4 p.m. today, moved up from a 4:30 p.m. start, at Conlon Field in Binghamton.
In both of its sectional wins, Candor gave up double-digit hits – 10 to Walton and 11 to Seton Catholic Central. Cody Rose hit an RBI double to tie the game against Walton, and he scored the winner on Ryan Cleveland’s sacrifice fly. Rose, a sophomore, lashed a two-run double that propelled his team past the Saints, 13-11. It’s a return appearance to finals for Candor, who lost to Edison last year in the title game. “Experience in this type of game may be a factor,” said Oxford coach Chris Palmer Wednesday night. “Obviously they have been on this stage before, and we haven’t. It may play a bit of a role (experience), but hopefully not a big one.”
Rose isn’t the the lone Indians batter that has moved runners around the bases for a strong hitting lineup. Pete Ahart and Ryan Cleveland each had homers against SCC, and Dustin Quick is the table-setter for a prolific offense. Quick has also shown pop in his bat with a mulitiple home run game on his 2007 batting resume. “Typically, Candor has been a fairly good hitting team,” Palmer said. “They faced Fisher (Sean, from Walton) the other game, and he can be effectively wild at times.”
It was that wildness that allowed Candor to accumulate a number of baserunners when the hits were lacking. Fisher walked four and hit three other batters. Compounding that was a trio of errors. So there were plenty of runners on base to negate the lack of actual basehits.
As for Oxford, it was outhit by Elmira Notre Dame, but clearly, it saved its hits for important times. Steve Locke, the team’s leading hitter with a .550 average, added two more hits. Nick Gates went 3-for-4, and Nate Sortino picked up two hits. Improved hitting is coming at the right time with Candor likely to throw its number one hurler, Ahart. “We’ve seen people’s aces all year long,” Palmer said. “I can’t imagine (Ahart) being a ton better than what we’ve faced. In that regard, we will be prepared for the pitching.”
After Locke, Ben Burdick is batting .379 and leads with 26 RBI and 15 stolen bases. Trevor Nelson is at .298, and Pat Wade has raised his average to .294 since moving into the leadoff spot. “I think most of our guys will be relaxed and come in and play well tomorrow,” Palmer said. “We’ve come from behind in both of our playoff games, so we haven’t laid down and dragged our heads.”
Locke (9-1) will get the call once again, and he brings impressive numbers to the mound. In 63 innings pitched, he has a 0.78 ERA giving up just seven earned runs – nine runs total – with 58 strikeouts and 12 walks. He added a circle changeup to his repetoire of pitches this season, thus adding to his effectiveness. Locke mopped up the final two-thirds of an inning Tuesday for winning pitcher Nate Sortino to earn his third save as well. “We’re pretty confident with Steve on the mound,” Palmer added. “It’s a game with 90 feet between the bases and 60 feet, six inches from the pitcher’s mound to home. Our focus all year has been to get to this point. If our team has any type of identity, it’s the common goal of getting to where we are now.”