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High school baseball: Alexandria pounces early, celebrates long-awaited Frontier League title

May 23—COPENHAGEN — A determined pitching effort and a quick start at the plate proved to be beneficial for the Alexandria baseball team Friday in claiming an elusive league title. Battling through the elements, pitcher Nathan Hoffmann kept the opposition at bay and received plenty of early run support to propel the Purple Ghosts to an 11-2 triumph over Sackets Harbor and win the Frontier League's "D" Division playoff title on a rainy evening at Copenhagen High School. Advertisement Top-seeded Alexandria improves to 12-5 on the season and claimed its first division playoff championship in what is believed to be at least two decades. "It's awesome," Hoffmann said. "It's great, we've been working all season for this, I've been ready for this." "Ever since we were young we were a team together and we were pretty good then and we developed into the team we are now," Sanford said. The Purple Ghosts wasted no time in striking offensively, in a game played in a steady rain, by scoring nine runs in the first inning to take command. Evan Sanford led the way at the plate by reaching base twice in the opening inning, driving in two runs and scoring a pair of runs. Advertisement Hoffman and Sanford combined on a four-hitter, with Hoffman pitching 5 1/3 innings, allowing two runs, with only one of them earned, while walking five and striking out 14 to record the win. "I felt amazing, I felt great off the bump today," Hoffmann said. "We all did a good job in the field and keeping the lead in the game, we just played our game." "I think Nate pitched great," Sanford said. "I call him gas station. He was throwing heat, he was putting it in there. That's what I'm going to start calling him from now on." Alexandria didn't waste any time in setting the tone in the first inning as it sent 13 batters to the plate, generating the nine runs on five hits, a walk, a hit batsman and three errors. Advertisement "The first inning, we came out hot, we did our thing, the boys did it all together," Hoffmann said. "We did it as a team and as a family." After Sanford reached on an error in the outfield, he scored when Troy Newberry reached on an infield single, Later after Charlie Gorman walked to load the bases, Newberry came home when Hoffmann reached on an error and another run scored on a throwing miscue, and the Purple Ghosts led 3-0. Bradley Robbins followed with an RBI single and Sanford them belted a two-run double to left field for a 6-0 advantage. Mason Savage then hit a two-run single, and Newberry stroked an RBI double to center for the 9-0 lead. Advertisement "A great first inning," Alexandria coach Benton Kessler said. "Evan is a great leadoff hitter, so we had him originally at cleanup and then moved him to the one-hole. He found his spark, went 4-for-4 against Copenhagen one game and he's been there for the rest of the season." "Just hammering it to them, early and often," Sanford said. The Purple Ghosts plated two more runs in the second as Gorman singled and after Hoffmann singled, Gorman scored from first base on a miscue. Hoffmann later scored on a wild pitch for an 11-0 advantage. Sackets Harbor got two runs back in the third as Will Virkler drew a leadoff walk and after Jake Peters doubled, Virkler scored on Ethan Shi's groundout, and Damon Serow followed with an RBI double. Advertisement Hoffmann worked out of trouble in the second inning and the sixth innings, striking out the side both times, after the Patriots had loaded the bases in the sixth. "It was great, his last game against General Brown was a little rough, we took him out in the first inning," Kessler said of Hoffmann's effort. "He was able to stay within himself, bounce back and he pitched a great game." "My two-seam fastball is going and when I got the slider going, it was going," Hoffmann said. After throwing 126 pitches, including a strikeout in the top of the sixth inning, Hoffman was relieved by Sanford, who struck out the two batters he faced to close out the win. Advertisement "When he's trusting his fastball, no one can touch it," Kessler said of Hoffmann. "He's got a God-given arm and if he's on, nobody's going to touch him. Just making sure he finds the strike zone and getting ahead of hitters." Serow finished 3-for-3 on the day, including his double, and drove in a run for second-seeded Sackets Harbor (7-9). Hoffmann and Sanford, both seniors, have played together since the peewee baseball level in Alexandria Bay, so both truly appreciate their team's breakout season. "Ever since peewees we were a team together and we were pretty good then and we developed into the team we are now," Sanford said. Advertisement After winning only six games last season, Alexandria claimed the league's "D" Division regular-season title en route to the postseason. "It feels amazing, actually," Hoffman said. "It's the first time in 26 years I believe that we've been to the championship for the "D" Division, it's just amazing, we're ready to go." "This is really great for these boys because it's a great group of seniors," Kessler said. "They work really hard, they're skilled and they're dedicated. We kind of had to get over a mental hump, but we finally put everything together, we were able to go undefeated in the league and this is a great way to cap it off." Said Sanford: "It feels good, we got a new gym recently, so we'll be hanging some new banners in there." Advertisement Now the Purple Ghosts are anticipating a favorable seeding in the Section 3 Class D playoffs and perhaps even a home playoff game. "This is real nice, but the job's not finished," Hoffman added.