Sardou powers Monroe to district-opening win

VALHALLA, N.Y. – Through the first 32 games of the 2026 season, Michael Sardou (Rochester, N.Y./Churchville-Chili) connected on 25 extra-base hits. His 11 triples are good for tops in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division II. 

But in the 10 outings leading up to Friday's opener of the NJCAA East District championship, a double on May 2^ndrepresented the lone occurrence in which the Monroe Community College second baseman advanced past first, off a batted ball. 

Gone were his opposite-field drives. 

That is until the seventh inning on Friday afternoon. 

With bases-loaded and two outs in a five-run game, Sardou connected on a 2-2 offering and cleared the fence to put the game out of reach. 

"I love pounding the right-center gap, and the last couple weeks, I haven't been," he said after Monroe (35-8) topped host SUNY Westchester Community College (25-17-1), 11-1. "It was good to finally see one, go to right center and finally leave the yard."

The round-tripper was his fourth of the season and his first since a walk-off grand slam against Bryant & Stratton (OH) on March 29^th. 

"I thought it was too high (got under it too much), but it still felt good," Sardou said. "It was off the barrel. It felt good when I saw it go over the fence. That's for sure." 

The at-bat followed his previous trip to the plate in the sixth inning when he plated teammates Aidan Gallagher(Hopewell Junction, N.Y./John Jay/East Fishkill) and Zane Barron (Ormond Beach, FL/Seabreeze) with a two-out single to give the Tribunes a 5-1 lead. 

"That was definitely a huge at bat, too," he said. "It was two guys in scoring position. I knew I just had to get a ball in play, hit it hard. That felt really good to see one finally drop."

Sardou's effort at the plate was part of a 14-hit attack. 

"We often remind the guys, it's the little things that win big games," said head coach Dave Brust. "Base hits, moving runners, extending at-bats, as we started to do those things, we started to score runs. 

Tyler Cannon (Webster, N.Y./Webster Schroeder) staked the Tribunes to a lead they did not surrender when the first-year designated hitter brought home Sardou and Aaron Reina (Rochester, N.Y./Churchville-Chili) with a double to right center. 

The two-bagger came after Cannon walked and scored in the second inning.  

"In the previous at bat, I got six pitches, so I got to see all this stuff," Cannon said. "I just walked in the box with confidence because we had bases loaded and no outs. I took a big cut with my first swing, Coach told me to go right center, so I kind of switched my stance, and I knew what I had to do to get the job done, to get the runs in there."

Parker Holden (Webster, N.Y./Webster Schroder) and Jaden Sherwood (Batavia, N.Y./Notre Dame-Batavia) combined to hold Westchester, which came into the game scoring 8.6 runs per game including double-digit outputs in four of five contests heading into Friday's action, to six hits.  

Holden (4-2) started and threw four innings. The sophomore right-hander struck out four and walked seven.  

Sherwood hurled three shutout frames in relief. He retired nine of the 12 batters he faced for his fourth save of the season.

Gallagher finished 3-for-3 with two walks, a double, and two runs scored. Aaron Reina was 2-4 and crossed home twice. Braedon Reina went 2-4 with two runs scored. Cannon also had two hits in four at-bats. Barron singled twice, walked and scored twice. 

Miguel Matos (Rochester, N.Y./East High) was 1-3 with a double, a walk and run scored. Tanner Holmes(Allenford, ON/Owen Sound District) had a sacrifice bunt, a walk and a run scored. 

The double-elimination tournament continues on Saturday when MCC faces Mercer County Community College (Region 19). Mercer (34-13-1) defeated Ulster County CC. 

A 1 PM first pitch is scheduled on Saturday.