ONONDAGA COUNTY – When the Baldwinsville baseball team finished its regular season Saturday against Pulaski, the occasion was as much centered on the program’s strong legacy as its strong present.
That was because Jason Grilli, who went from B’ville to a long career as a Major League relief pitcher that included an All-Star appearance in 2013 with the Pittsburgh Pirates, was formally inducted into the program’s Hall of Fame.
After pitching at Seton Hall University, Grilli spent 15 seasons with multiple Major League teams, appearing in 595 games. In 113 of them, Grilli earned a win or save, and he got 694 strikeouts in 685 innings.
Grilli was joined at the ceremony by his family, including his father, Steve, who also had a long career in the Major Leagues and remains a popular figure in the Central New York baseball community.
As to the game, B’ville won it, 6-2, netting all of its runs in the bottom of the third inning, the big blow a three-run home run by Braden Seeber as Cameron Brennan also got an RBI.
In front of B’ville’s first family of pitching, Jason Ouellette tossed five shutout innings to earn the victory, allowing six hits but keeping Pulaski off the board while striking out eight. Both of the Blue Devils’ runs came in the top of the sixth.
Before all this, B’ville maintained the upper hand in its rivalry with Liverpool last Tuesday afternoon, twice coming from behind to beat the Warriors 5-3.
A two-run second inning erased an early 1-0 deficit and, when Liverpool scored twice in the third, the Bees countered with a three-run rally an inning later, with Luca Beals’ home run the big blow as he scored twice and, along with Aiden Milburn, got credit for RBIs.
Though he had a rough start, Gavin Miller pitched five innings and held the Warriors to four hits before Matt Carner took over and tossed two innings of no-hit relief.
Then, getting a third opportunity against SCAC Metro division-leading Cicero-North Syracuse last Wednesday night at the Gillette Road complex, the Bees again dropped a close one to the Northstars, this time 3-2.
With Milburn pitching, B’ville fell behind 2-0 in the second inning, but tied it two innings later as Carner and Perry Chetney raced home, one of them on Reid Rachwal’s double.
B’ville got nothing more against C-NS pitcher Sam Shaw, who went 5 1/3 innings before Battisa Wood relieved him, having seen the Northstars break the 2-2 tie in the bottom of the sixth and then have Wood get the final outs for the win.
A day later, facing West Genesee for the third time this season at Onondaga Community College, B’ville took a tough 7-3 defeat to the Wildcats.
They traded third-inning runs, but in the bottom of the fourth WG scored three times off Colin Ray, adding two more runs an inning later and a run in the sixth.
All told, the Bees had just three hits off Wildcats pitcher Eric Korzeniewski, two of them by Milburn, who singled, doubled and drove in a run as Brennan added an RBI.
B’ville just might meet West Genesee again this week. If the no. 3 seed Bees knock off no. 6 seed Liverpool Tuesday in the Section III Class A quarterfinals, it advances to Thursday’s semifinal at Onondaga Community College where the no. 2 seed Wildcats would be waiting if it beats Syracuse City.
