High school baseball: Amherst offensive onslaught continues against Elyria

AMHERST — And the beat goes on for Amherst. One day after clubbing Elyria 18-3, the Comets, ranked No. 1 in the latest Division II coaches poll, came right back with their hot bats, sending 24 batters to the plate in the first inning while scoring 19 times to beat the Pioneers 28-1 in a Southwestern Conference baseball game Tuesday. "We've been telling guys all year that I don't care who is in the other dugout, we have to go out there and play Amherst baseball," Comets coach Matt Rositano said. "When we play Amherst baseball, we are pretty successful, and we did a little bit of that tonight." For one moment, the Comets did not play "Amherst baseball" as Elyria scored the first run of the game against Harrison Schneider and led 1-0. After a strikeout, Brayden Barbee reached on a throwing error and came around to score on one of the two hits by Elyria, a Cody Stipe single to left for the fleeting one-run lead. The first five batters in the bottom of the first reached and scored before the first out was registered against Stipe, who started on the mound for the Pioneers (4-9, 0-7 SWC), a sacrifice fly to short right off the bat of Zach Diedrick. The next 11 Comets batters reached base and scored before the next out was recorded by Elyria reliever Gino Vazquez. By the time the batting order started coming around for the third time, Rositano began going to the bench with three pinch hitters in the first and eight of nine spots in the batting order saw a pinch hitter enter the game. Everyone contributed for the Comets (11-1, 6-0) as Nick Wilkinson, Cole Charles, Landon Wolf and Cole Marquez each had two hits in the first. Wilkinson, Charles, Harrison Schneider, Eli Toyoda and Gavin Ford scored twice to go along with two RBIs by Charles, Cooper Bingham, Wolf, Diedrick and Marquez. Scheinder had three RBIs. The two runs knocked home added to Wolf's record-breaking career total after he broke the Comets record Monday, reaching 83 in the win. "That is one of my favorite stats because it's not just because of me, I can't drive in runs if my teammates aren't getting on base ahead of me," said Wolf, who has 85 career RBIs with half a season and the postseason to go. "It feels amazing, because if I am driving in runs, it means the team is doing well." After allowing the hit in the first, Schneider helped improve his record to 4-0 by setting down 11 of the next 12 batters, allowing a walk to Mason Burnett before a fifth-inning single by Maurice Stone. The game was clearly in hand after the first, but Amherst did get one more big hit, a one-out grand slam in the six-run second inning by Cooper Bingham, who also excelled on the ice for the Comets hockey team. "Coop has been phenomenal all year," Rositano said. "He has been locked in. He has been our hottest hitter and has a great eye at the plate. After today, I think his on-base percentage is right around .700. He has really been the catalyst for our offense lately." Contact James Brady at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.