Pizzo, Restmeyer pitch Golden Knights to double-header sweep on Monday
ALBANY, NY » After getting swept in their season opening double-header on Saturday afternoon, Saint Rose handed the ball to fifth-year senior, Frankie Pizzo, for the first of two more games against Pace on Monday.
“I think they just needed to settle in a little bit,” said head coach Wayne Jones. “Today we came in fired up and were ready to play from the first pitch, the whole way through.”
Saint Rose won the first game in a blowout, 10-2 in a shortened, seven-inning game. They kept the momentum going into the second game, winning 5-3 as they went the full nine.
Pizzo turned in a strong performance to begin his 2021 season, throwing six innings of scoreless baseball.
“It felt great. I give a lot of credit to my catcher, Derek (Haughey), behind the plate - doing a really good job of keeping me in counts and making sure I’m settled down,” Pizzo said, a local player from Shenende
howa. “The guys behind me played great, I don’t think there was one error the whole game.”
His official line was six innings, zero runs, three hits, two walks and four strikeouts. His only innings of trouble were the first and fourth, which the senior worked his way out of.
The Golden Knights’ bats were ready to go early as well, scoring all ten runs in the first three innings. Jack McDonald, Janiel Ramirez and Haughey each had two hits and two RBIs in the first game. Haughey’s RBIs came from a two-run homer in the bottom of the second.
“We just wanna win, so that first day definitely killed us, but we know how to turn the page and get back, ready for the next one,” Pizzo said. “All these series are conference play now, so we always have to be ready for the next one.”
Entering the series, the Golden Knights were set to play their first games of the season against a Pace team already with seven games under their belt, as the Setters begun their season on March 10.
“Coach Jones and the whole coaching staff prepared this team more than I think we’ve ever been prepared,” Pizzo added. “This team, right here, is ready to go whenever we’re called.”
GAME 2
The word of the day for the Golden Knights was ‘momentum.’
Jared Restmeyer got the ball for Saint Rose in the second game as was lights out. The junior, from Huntington Station, NY, retired the first ten Pace hitters he faced.
“Those guys are returners. They know what we expect, how to execute and they did a good job today,” Jones said of Pizzo and Restmeyer.
“It’s all about the momentum and I was just trying to throw strikes and that’s what we did today,” Restmeyer said. “Winning that first one was super-important. After Saturday we all talked and we just saw this as a restart and now we’re 2-0. We’re gonna take that momentum to the rest of the season.”
The fourth inning would end up being his only blemish as the junior would go six innings, allowing only one unearned run on two hits and striking out five. He did not walk a batter, although he did hit one.
Restmeyer’s 10-straight streak was ended on a dropped pop-up, which came around to score on a ground-ball base hit up the middle.
Saint Rose got things going with the bats again quickly though, as Tyler Osborne singled in Sam Brioso in the bottom of the first. They added two more in the third on a Janiel Ramirez two-run home run.
After Pace got one back in the top of the seventh, Haughey knocked a tworun double in the bottom half to put Saint Rose up 5-2.
Austin Cole, who came in for Restmeyer, allowed two runs, one earned in an inning-plus of work. Cameron Flynn entered the game in the eighth with a runner on first and not outs. He got out of it on two pitches after forcing a double play.
A 1-2-3 ninth for Flynn would earn him the save and Saint Rose the 5-3 victory.
“We’re all blessed to be out here and have the opportunity to play baseball again,” Pizzo said. “s a whole, this team has the most comradery of any team that I’ve ever been on. We’re a family, we’re all brothers and we all want to win, bad.”
UP NEXT
With the double-header sweep on Monday, the Golden Knights earned the series split and evened their record at 2-2. Next they will travel to Le Moyne on Saturday April 10 to begin a four game series.
FINAL: SAINT ROSE 10, PACE 2
Win: Frankie Pizzo (1-0); Loss: Nick Palumbo (0-2)
PACE 0-0-0-0-0-0-2 — 2-5-2
SAINT ROSE 3-6-1-0-0-0-X — 10-8-0 FINAL: SAINT ROSE 5, PACE 3
Win: Jared Restmeyer (1-0); Loss: Brian Primm (0-1); Save: Cameron Flynn (1)
PACE 0-0-0-1-0-0-1-1-0 — 3-3-2 SAINT ROSE 1-0-2-0-0-0-2-0-X — 5-8-2