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Bulldogs are new Class D champions

Photos by Valory Isaacson The Brocton Bulldogs high school baseball team celebrates its Section VI Class D title Saturday.

JAMESTOWN — Nothing has stopped Brocton so far this season.

The Bulldogs ran through a perfect Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Athletic Association Division 2 West season, overcame a midseason coaching change and Saturday knocked off 21-time sectional champion Frewsburg, 9-2, in the Section VI Class D championship game at Jamestown High School’s Martin Road Athletic Complex.

Hunter Rizzo threw an 80-pitch complete-game five-hitter with two strikeouts and Charlie Rexford went 3 for 4 with a double, a triple and five RBIs as No. 1 Brocton clinched its fourth sectional crown, and first since 1994.

“These kids buy into the Brocton baseball program,” head coach Ray Rosas said. “They’ve done everything we’ve asked them to do from the beginning of the year forward. This was our goal from Day 1. It’s good to see these kids finally get it.”

“It feels absolutely amazing,” Rexford added. “Coming back form last year and getting a blue patch instead of a red patch is unbelievable.”

Brocton’s Riley Rivera is out at first, but just barely, in Saturday’s Class D final against Frewsburg.

The win vaults the Bulldogs into next Saturday’s Far West Regional game at Diethrick Park against a Section V champion yet to be determined.

“I think we’re playing our best ball all year long,” Rosas said. “I’ve told these guys from the start, it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. We’re playing great baseball right now.”

Brocton jumped on Bears starter Trent Gray early Saturday to the tune of seven runs in the first two innings.

Rizzo and Riley Rivera led off with back-to-back singles before a passed ball moved both runners up and a one-out wild pitch allowed Rizzo to score the game’s first run. After Bubba Brown walked, Rexford hit a two-run single to center field with Brown scoring all of the way from first on the play.

“I just think they had good at-bats,” Frewsburg head coach Jay Grann said. “Trent didn’t have his best stuff, but he battled as much as he could.”

The Bulldogs put up four more runs in the second inning, all with two outs. Rizzo beat out an infield single and Rivera walked before Jordan Krystofiak’s RBI single to left field. Brown then reached on an error that allowed Rivera to score before Rexford’s two-run triple to right field over the glove of a leaping Caleb Carr.

“When you are playing from behind you tend to pressure up a little bit. We’ve been doing really well with scoring early and keeping it on,” Rosas said. ” … I think our big inning came with two outs. We’ve been a good two-out ballclub all year long.”

The rest was left up to Rizzo and his defense. The senior right-hander set down the third-seeded Bears in order in the second, fifth and seventh innings and allowed just one runner to reach third when Aaron Hair picked up a hustle triple to lead off the top of the sixth.

“It was something I’ve always been dreaming of since seventh grade,” Rizzo said of the title-game start. “I have to thank my catcher Jordan Krystofiak and Riley Rivera in center field. The guys played a helluva game today and I couldn’t have done it without them.”

Mark Mammoser followed Hair’s triple with a groundout to third and Hair scored when Rexford’s throw to the plate wasn’t handled. By that point the score was 9-1 after Rizzo’s two-out RBI single in the third and Rexford’s one-out RBI double in the fifth.

“A couple of inches here, a couple of inches there and things are different,” Grann said. “We didn’t catch any breaks and they made some breaks for themselves.”

Brocton’s defense was flawless as Rizzo induced five groundouts and 14 flyouts.

“Hunter Rizzo is a gamer. He’s been here before. He’s got experience. I had no doubt he was going to throw the game of his life and that’s what he did,” Rosas said. “He hits his spots well and he has a good offspeed pitch. He kept that fastball down and our defense backed him up.”

Rivera ran down seven balls in center field while Gabe Rosas caught two balls in right field and Gabe Morello caught one in left.

“The outfield defense today was great. Riley Rivera played a heck of a game. It was kind of a mishap yesterday in (batting practice), he took an inside pitch and chipped his tooth. He’s got a big fat lip,” Ray Rosas said. ” … I told him he should walk around with the chipped tooth until we’re done because he played a heck of a game out there in center field.”

After winning three games in five days, the Bulldogs will now have the luxury of waiting a full week until playing for an opportunity to advance to the state Final Four set for June 8-9 in Binghamton.

What’s more, Brocton will have both of its aces — Brown and Rizzo — ready to take the mound.

“We’ve ridden Bubba and Hunter all year long and that’s what we continue to plan on doing,” Ray Rosas said. “It’s good to know that both of your aces are available.”

“I love those guys and I have so much faith and respect for both of them as players and people,” Rexford added. “It’s a lot of fun playing with them.”

NOTES: Avoca beat Belfast, 6-0, in the Section V Class D2 title game while Bolivar-Richburg topped Honeoye, 5-0, in the Class D1 title game Saturday in Hornell. Section V’s Class D crossover game will be Tuesday in Hornell. … In addition to Rexford’s three hits, Rizzo had three hits, Rivera had two hits and Krystofiak singled for Brocton. … Hair was 2 for 3 with a double and a triple while Gray, Tim Wright and Nolan Brink each added singles for Frewsburg. … Gray threw 1ª innings, allowing seven runs (four earned) on six hits and two walks with four strikeouts; Reid Bjork threw 1ª innings, allowing two runs on two hits and two walks with a pair of strikeouts; and Hair threw 2ª innings, allowing no runs on a hit and a walk with three strikeouts.

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