Lourdes baseball one win away from redemption heading into Section 1A title game

(ABC 6 News) — All season long, Rochester Lourdes baseball head coach Dave Jenson has preached patience and discipline to his team.

That approach has helped the Eagles reach the Section 1AA title game, where they control their own destiny. Lourdes beat P.E.M 7-1 for the second time this season in the winner bracket final on Saturday to make it to the championship game.

Eagles ace Joe Sperry pitched six shutout innings, striking out nine and allowing just two hits. Lourdes’ bats also got hot, scoring three runs in both the third and fifth inning.

It was the Eagles’ seventh win in a row, but they have not forgotten about last season and how they were at this stage and fell short.

A year ago Lourdes reached the section title game, but had one loss and then suffered a 10-inning setback to Plainview-Elgin-Millville and settled for a runner-up finish.

On Tuesday, they only need to win once for full vindication.

"Last year, we had a bitter taste in our mouth like we wanted it really bad this year to be in this spot again," Sperry said. "We’re in an even better spot because now they have to beat us twice and we’re a very hard team to beat. But you know throughout the season we practice hard, we take care of our bodies. We work hard to be here"

The championship game will start at 5 p.m.