By TIM BIRNEYValley Sports Report
JOHNSON CITY — A "bloop and a blast" is a phrase coined by legendary Pittsburgh Pirate broadcaster. On Tuesday, Waverly used a bloop and a blast in the bottom of the sixth inning to pull out a 2-1 win over Scotia-Glenville in the opening round of the New York State, Class A baseball playoffs.
Longtime Waverly coach Kyle McDuffee, now in his 24th season, is enjoying the postseason ride.
"My baseball family started the first day I started coaching 24 years ago," he said. "These wins are for the entire program, for everyone who has ever put on the Waverley baseball jerseys.
"It's not for me, it's not for the coaches," noted McDuffee. "We're not just playing for us 13, we play for everybody.
"What we really like is how community rallies around us," added McDuffee. "I like it, and I'm really proud of it. This is a good group."
With the score tied at 1-1, junior Justin Koenig reached base on a perfectly-placed bloop single just inside the foul line in short right field.
Freshman Axel Murray provided the blast with a ringing triple that one-hopped the fence in right-center field to give the Wolverines a 2-1 lead.
"That's a huge hit for Axel (Murray)," said McDuffee.
"Justin (Koenig) got us started with his hit down the line, then Axel ... that was a shot, it would haver been out at Waverly," added McDuffee.
Murray, who agreed the RBI triple was the biggest hit of his life, was hunting a fast ball.
"Early in the game, he was throwing a lot of curveballs, so I knew I was going to get a lot of curveballs in that at-bat in a big moment.
"I just sat on it, you know, I didn't chase out of the zone," said Murray. "I got a fastball in the zone, and I hit it."
And Murray had no doubt when he hit it.
"I knew it was dropping, and I knew it was a run," said Murray.
Just like in Friday's Section IV Championship series, the Wolverines, now 22-4, rode the arm of senior Ronin Ault to its first-ever win in the state playoffs.
"Ronin (Ault) has been really good for us," said McDuffee. "He is such a ball player. He lives baseball, lives it, sleeps it, eats it, and talks it.
"He's just been the guy for us, and the sky is the limit for him when we get done.
"The best thing about him is he's all about the team," said McDuffee. "He doesn't talk about himself, it's about the team.
"He struggled for the first few innings," added McDuffee. "I didn't know if we had hit a wall with all the innings he's thrown recently, but all the sudden something sparked him, and he was lights out."
Ault said he had to make some early adjustments.
"I had iffy command," Ault said. "The zone was a little tight ... normally, I can get paint away, but I didn't really have that today, so I switched over to the two-seam, and then the cutter off that started to work.
"And, Benny (Shaw) and coach (Pat) Bronson called a great game and I think that's what got me through seven," added Ault.
Junior catcher Ben Shaw said Ault was consistent once he found his groove.
"We were going pretty good with a good sequence between the cutter, fastball, and some change-up, too," he said. "It was working out pretty well and getting guys to swing and miss here and there."
The Wolverines jumped out in front early with a run in the bottom of the first inning.
Senior Hogan Shaw led off with a single, stole second, and scored on a two-out RBI single into right field by junior Matthias Welles.
Ault retired the first seven batters he faced, including three strikeouts in the second inning, but was touched up for two hits, sandwiched around a walk, for a run in the top of the third inning to tie the game.
"I think they might have been catching on to our signs a little bit, but and we figured it out there, and figured it out in the next inning, then just adjusted and started going back at it," said Shaw.
Ault and Scotia-Glenville's Caleb Bayer matched zeroes into the bottom of the sixth when Koenig and Murray teamed to put the Wolverines up 2-1.
In the top of the seventh, S-G put two runners on, but Ault got a groundout to end the game.
Ault allowed one run on five hits, with 10 strikeouts and two walks in seven innings. He threw 116 pitches.
Ault was pleased to finish off the game.
"The other team chirped quite a bit, but we took care of business," he said. "It feels pretty good right now."
Koenig singled twice and scored one run, while Koenig tripled and drove in one run, and Welles singled and scored one run to pace Waverly's eight-hit attack.
Hogan Shaw singled and scored one run in the win, while sophomore Jack Pipher, senior Daltton Davis and Ault each added a single.
Bayer was tagged with the loss, allowing two runs on eight hits, with four strikeouts and one walk.
Ben Shaw, who was starting linebacker as a freshman on Waverly's 2023 state championship football team, appreciates the historic run the baseball team is currently on.
"It's a totally different feeling from the football championship, but it feels very good," he said. "And, to do something this school has never done, especially in the baseball program is special.
"It was the first state title for football," added Shaw. "Hopefully, we get the first for baseball, too, and I think we will."
Ault said there is more work to be done.
"The job is not finished, that's what we keep saying," said Ault. "It's big, though, the guys are hyped.
I probably won't think about how big of a game it was until I wake up tomorrow morning," said Ault.
"I'm super-proud of the guys, but the job is not finished," he added.
Waverly returns to action Friday at 4 p.m. against Section VI champ Grand Island at ESL Park in Rochester.
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IN PHOTO 1: Waverly's Axel Murray. IN TOP PHOTO: Waverly's Ronin Ault. ... PHOTOS BY TIM BIRNEY.
