Baseball: Big-time plays from Chase Fogg lead Warwick past Monroe-Woodbury in quarterfinals
CENTRAL VALLEY — Big-time players make big-time plays in big-time games.
This sure was the case for Warwick second baseman Chase Fogg.
No. 5 Warwick baseball upset No. 4 Monroe-Woodbury, 3-1, in eight innings in a Section 9 Class AA baseball quarterfinal game at Monroe-Woodbury High School on Monday. The Wildcats advance to the semifinals against top-seeded Pine Bush on May 25 at 4 p.m. at EJ Russell Elementary School. They are looking for their first section title since 1996 and first-ever in Class AA.
FINAL: No: 5 Warwick 3, No. 4 Monroe-Woodbury 1 in the Section 9 Class AA quarterfinals. Daniel Callaghan closes it out. Warwick will travel to Pine Bush, who is the top seed. The semifinals matchup will be Wednesday at 4 p.m. #V845 @SectionIXSports @WarwickHardball pic.twitter.com/imyNfqAa72
— Melissa Kramer (@MKramerTHR) May 23, 2022
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Fogg came up with the biggest plays of the game on both sides.
With the game knotted at one, and two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning, Fogg fielded a ground ball that took a high bounce and fired a throw to catcher Francisco Velez, nabbing potential walk-off run Alex Exarchakis from sending the Crusaders to the semifinals.
The game would go to extra innings and Fogg would put the team on his back. After Ryan McLaughlin and Daniel Callaghan reached base, Fogg hit a go-ahead two-run single, scoring both McLaughlin, and pinch-runner Owen Tillinghast.
“Just lock in," he said on his big at-bat. "I was telling everyone, we don’t need a hero, we just need a baserunner and to just play our game and we did it. I trust my team, I trust my guys and to just be ourselves.”
McLaughlin described his feelings as his team took the lead.
“It was unexplainable," McLaughlin said. "I was super excited, rounding third and heading home. I haven’t felt that before, it was amazing.”
Up next is the top seed for the Wildcats, but that doesn't seem to be a problem or phase them.
“Absolutely not," Warwick's Andrew Reda said. "We beat them once, we’ll do it again.”
What it means
In their third matchup of the season, Warwick came out on top for the first time against Monroe-Woodbury. They fell 3-2 on April 4 and 8-0 on May 2. Now, Warwick will travel to top-seeded Pine Bush in the Class AA semifinals on May 25 at 4 p.m. The Wildcats won the first matchup 3-2 and Pine Bush would take the second and most recent showdown, 5-1.
Player of the game
Chase Fogg's throw to catcher Francisco Velez to nab potential winning-run Alex Exarchakis sliding into home with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning was a game-saver for the Wildcats. In the top of the eighth inning, he would come up clutch with a go-ahead two-run single, scoring Ryan McLaughlin and pinch-runner Owen Tillinghast.
By the numbers
Warwick (13-8) — Starter Ryan McLaughlin struck out 10 in seven strong innings pitched. He also scored the go-ahead run, after reaching base with a single in the top of the eighth inning. Daniel Callaghan closed out the game in the eighth inning. Warwick knotted the score at one with two outs in the top of the fifth inning, when Callaghan reached first on a dropped throw, and Dominick Scotto crossed home.
Monroe-Woodbury (14-7) — Alex Exarchakis drove in Kavan Tuttle to open the scoring in the bottom of the second inning. Owen White pitched seven solid innings as the starter. Daniel Ryan entered in relief in the eighth inning.
Quotable
“I have to give Monroe-Woodbury a lot of credit today, because we hit the ball extremely hard today and it just seemed like we weren’t finding the holes. I just felt like we didn’t stop. One of our big problems this year is we struck out too much. Today, we didn’t. We only struck out four times. We put the ball in play, we hit the ball hard, we played awesome defense. Big-time players make big-time plays in big-time games. Ryan McLaughlin, people don’t know it yet, he’s an ace. Andrew Reda almost put that ball out and put us in a good position. Chase Fogg had a big hit. It was just a great team win.” - Warwick coach Eric Rosa on what went well during the team's quarterfinal win.
MKramer1@th-record.com
Twitter: @MKramerTHR
This article originally appeared on Times Herald-Record: Section 9 baseball: No. 5 Warwick advances after extra-inning win
