Riders roll on in Sectionals

The top seeded Ichabod Crane Riders hosted eighth seeded Scotia on Thursday and although ICC starter Josh Ingham wasn't his normal dominant self on the mound and the early innings were close before all was said and done the Riders had pounded out 20 hits on their way to a 16-7 victory. The win advances the Riders into the Section II Class A Final Four and they will play Saturday in Amsterdam.

Scotia struck first as their second hitter launched a solo home run over the left field fence to give the Tartans the 1-0 edge. In the bottom half of the inning with two outs Derick Horn hit an opposite field double off the wall and Alex Mastrianni followed that up with an opposite field double of his own, scoring Horn and tying the game at one.

Scotia struck for another run in the second inning on a trio of singles and a fielder's choice to retake the lead. In the bottom of the inning the Riders again struck back and knotted the game at two. Phil Basile led off with a single to center and Tyler Harris moved him on with a single to right. Zack Albery laid down a sacrifice bunt to move both runners into scoring position before David Winch brought home Basile with a sac fly.

Ingham settled down some in the third facing just four batters and giving up a single hit but in the bottom half of the inning the Riders offense continued to roll. With two outs the Riders mounted an offensive rally started by a Mastrianni single. Seth Williams and Basile each followed with walks to load the bases before Harris brought in two with a rip that took a tough hop and went off the face of the Scotia short stop.

Scotia clawed back to within one in the fourth before the Riders iced it in their half of the inning plating 9 runs on 9 hits highlighted by Josh Ingham's three run home run. The Riders added another in the fifth to push their lead to 14-3.

In the sixth Scotia picked up an out then notched back to back to back singles off Ingham. A pair of singles and a fielder's choice brought in four runs before Seth Williams came on in relief for the Riders. In the bottom of the sixth ICC added another two runs to cap off the win.

On the mound Ingham went 6 2/3+ innings allowing 7 runs, all earned, on 13 hits and a walk while striking out 5. Williams went 1 1/3 allowing 0 runs on 0 hits and 0 walks with 0 strike outs. With both Ingham and Williams handling the duties in game one it would now seem Alex Mastrianni will take the hill for game two for ICC.

At the plate Horn racked up two singles, two doublles, 2 runs and an RBI while Mastrianni had 3 singles and a double, 2 runs and 2 RBI. Ingham finished with a pair of singles, a homer, 2 runs and 4 RBI while Williams had two hits, a walk, 2 runs and 2 RBI. Basile added a hit, a walk, an RBI and 2 runs while Albery finished with two hits, a run and an RBI. Harris added two hits and a run while David Winch scored twice and drove in a run while Bryan Smith finished with a hit and a run.