High school baseball: Amherst gets late run to turn back Elyria in Summer Classic

AMHERST — The Adrian Abrahamowicz Summer Classic lived up to its name Tuesday as Amherst and Elyria battled for their tournament lives. Elyria ace Maurice Stone and Amherst senior Zander Hopkins, who was making his first start in a Comets uniform engaged in an old-fashioned pitcher's duel before the Comets scored the game-winning run in the sixth inning to escape with a 3-2 win. Stone and Hopkins each tossed complete games with Hopkins recording seven strikeouts while Stone struck out four. "I just went out there and did what I know how to do," Hopkins said. "This was my first start for Amherst. I just wanted to throw strikes, and I knew my defense would have my back." That Amherst defense played a crucial role, as the Comets played errorless ball, while on the other side three Elyria errors led to Amherst's first two runs. Braylon Hans got Amherst (1-1) going in the first inning when he walked, moved to third on an error and scored on a wild pitch. Gage Smith, the No. 9 hitter, followed with a one-out single to right, but two more Elyria errors on the play allowed him to circle the bases and tie it at 2. With the game tied in the bottom of the sixth, the Comets took advantage of a Nick Laudato leadoff double to manufacture the game-winning run. Laudato moved to third on a Jameson Parsons sacrifice bunt and came home on a Spencer Haney fielder's choice. "I was really nervous and I was really excited to get a hit with the opportunity to play on varsity," Laudato, a sophomore designated hitter, said. "We did a better job today of not making errors on routine plays on defense. I'm really excited. I think we're going to win the next two games and get to the championship." Elyria scored both of its runs in the fourth. Cody Stipe led off with a walk and scored on J.J. Buckey's double to right. Landon Wissinger's single moved Buckey over to third and put runners on the corners with no outs for Connor McKitrick, who drove in the Pioneers' second run with a grounder to short. Although the loss dropped Elyria to 0-2 in the tournament, Pioneers coach Jordan Connell was happy with the progress his team showed against the Comets. "We had a whole new mentality today. We came in with a purpose to stay seven innings and that's what we did," Connell said. "We showed today we can play baseball. I told them after the game, 'we have no more excuses you just competed with a program that went really far in the playoffs this year.' That's been the whole goal this summer, to change the culture and have a winning mentality." While many teams use the Classic as a chance to get younger players an opportunity to shine in front of the varsity coaching staff, Connell chose to play his top talent, including Stipe and Stone, who were both All-Southwestern Conference last spring. "I know a lot of guys are trying to test different people out, but Stone is our ace. He's the guy we go to," Connell said. "We want to get him some work against a good-caliber team." Both teams will be back in action today, as Amherst hosts Firelands and Elyria welcomes back former coach Ed Piazza and his defending Division III district champion Rocky River Pirates. "There's a lot of names you don't recognize. We're playing a lot of young guys this week that don't have varsity experience, so this is learning week," Comets coach Matt Rositano said. "Wins this week are a bonus. I wanna see what they have at this level and today was a big step forward from yesterday." Contact Todd Shapiro at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.