Marist was on the ropes in Game 1 of the Class AAAA championship series against Whitewater on Saturday, but erased two three-run deficits for an 11-5 win, then completed the sweep with an 11-strikeout performance by senior pitcher Brandon Liebrandt in an 8-1 Game 2 win.
Kevin Gale swatted two home runs and finished the twin bill with four hits and five RBIs for Marist (33-4), which won its second consecutive state championship and 12th overall.
“The one thing our kids really bought into was we weren’t trying to defend anything,” Marist coach Mike Strickland said. “We were trying to go out and win another one.”
Chesny Young’s RBI single in the first inning of Game 2 gave the host War Eagles the lead, and Georges Durot’s second-inning grand slam gave Liebrandt a 5-0 cushion.
Liebrandt scattered five hits over six innings. The Wildcats’ lone run against him came on a solo homer by Renaldo Jenkins in the bottom of the third inning, Jenkins’ second of the day. David Bourbonnais pitched the seventh inning for Marist to close out the win.
Gale’s three-run homer in the fifth made the score 8-1.
“Our coaches came up with a great game plan, and I just tried to stick to it,” said Liebrandt, a Florida State signee. “I felt like with a big lead, if I threw strikes we’d have a great chance to win.”
The two teams, each averaging nearly 10 runs per game for the season, combined for one hit over the first three innings of Game 1, during which Marist trailed 3-0 and 5-2, but won on the strength of an eight-run fifth inning.
Whitewater (27-9) broke on top in the second inning. Drew Weselowski walked, Rhodes singled to right. Gillis’ sacrifice bunt went between the pitcher and first baseman. Stevens ran it down, but threw the ball into the Whitewater dugout, allowing Weselowski to score and giving Whitewater runners at second and third.
Evan Gresham’s sacrifice fly made the score 2-0.
John Mark Rhodes belted a solo homer in the top of the fourth for a 3-0 Whitewater lead lead.
Whitewater left-hander Jared Gillis retired the first nine batters he faced and went to the bottom of the fifth with a 5-2 lead after Jenkins’ two-run opposite-field homer.
Marist’s first base runner came on a leadoff walk to Brett Dolan in the fourth. Dolan stole second and came around to score on the War Eagles’ first hit, a double down the left-field line by Young, who later scored on a single by Daniel Spingola.
Marist scored eight runs on seven hits in the fifth inning, the big blows coming on a two-run double by Blake Stevens and Gale’s two-run homer.
“I was down two strikes and I was just trying to get a good swing,” Gale said. “We’ve really worked the hardest all year, and I think that’s why we won.”
Stevens pitched the complete-game win for Marist, allowing five runs on six hits and striking out six.
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