CENTRAL NEW YORK – Six area high school baseball teams faced opening games in the Section III playoffs Tuesday afternoon – and all of them emerged victorious.
Seeking its first sectional title since 1977, West Genesee, the no. 2 seed in Class AA, easily cleared its first hurdle, routing no. 7 seed Syracuse City 14-3 in the quarterfinals in Camillus.
Syracuse went up 1-0 in the first inning, but the Wildcats took charge with four runs in the bottom of the first and three more runs in the second. More would follow, including a six-run fifth inning.
Only getting eight hits, WG took advantage of wildness with 10 walks and four hit batters. Eric Korzeniewski tripled and drove in four runs, with Ryan Klementowski and Jacob Severson getting two RBIS apiece as Dan Flaherty and Luis Suarez each scored three runs. Klementowski pitched five innings, allowing seven hits but striking out nine.
In Class B, the main story was that Westhill and Skaneateles earned one more shot at each other in the quarterfinals after two entertaining regular-season games that the Warriors won.
Westhill, the no. 3 seed, shut out no. 14 seed Chittenango 4-0 in a game that, for a long while, was a tense pitcher’s duel between Warriors ace Mike Madigan and Bears ace Carlos Torres-Carman.
Neither pitcher surrendered a run for five innings. Finally, in the bottom of the sixth Westhill got to Torres-Carman, the big blow Taden Chester’s bases-clearing, three-run double as Dom Zawadzki also drove in a run.
Madigan allowed just two hits, one of them to Torres-Carman and the other to Austin Khammar, and set a career mark with 15 strikeouts to overcome three walks.
Meanwhile, no. 6 seed Skaneateles had to rally past no. 11 seed Lowville 7-3 in a game where the Red Raiders took a 1-0 lead in the first inning and then scored twice in the third after the Lakers went up 2-1 in the second.
Still trailing 3-2, Skaneateles went ahead for good when it earned a pair of fourth-inning runs. A three-run sixth put the game away as Emil Sander went two-for-four with three RBIs.
Cooper Purdy scored twice as single RBIs went to Nate Shattuck, Chad Lowe, Joe Bruna and Trey Michel. James Musso went the distance, striking out 11 to overcome seven Lowville hits.
Solvay got a double bonus. Not only did the no. 7 seed Bearcats beat no. 10 seed Phoenix 10-3, it earned a quarterfinal home game when no. 2 seed Little Falls was shocked by no. 18 seed Vernon-Verona-Sherrill 9-7.
As for its own game, Solvay struck twice in the first inning and broke it open with a four-run fourth, adding four more insurance runs in the sixth to support pitcher Dan Mrowinski, who went six innings for the win.
Jonathan Gonzalez-Perez hit a home run on his way to three RBIs. Anthony Berry had two hits and drove in two runs as Mrowinski, Jordan Dippold and Robert Tarolli had one RBI apiece.
On the road, Marcellus, the no. 12 seed, proved quite impressive against no. 5 seed Holland Patent, piling up runs in the course of a 13-2 victory over the Golden Knights to earn a spot in the quarterfinals against no. 4 seed Homer.
The Mustangs banged out 14 hits, four of them by Adam Sullivan, who tripled and scored four runs as Ethan Snyder doubled and earned four RBIs.
Snyder, Colin Johnson, Ryder Donahue and Hunter Byrne had two hits apiece as John Francesconi joined Donahue and Byrne in the two-RBI column. Francesconi also pitched six innings to earn the win, striking out nine.
Finally, there was Bishop Ludden tearing through its Class C playoff opener, the no. 10 seed Gaelic Knights blanking no. 7 seed Tully 13-0 to set up a quarterfinal showdown with no. 2 seed Beaver River.
Two runs in the first and third innings put Ludden in control, and was all pitcher Peter Dunham needed as he threw a one-hitter, amassing 13 strikeouts against just two walks.
At the plate, the Gaelic Knights used an eight-run seventh inning to put the game away. Tim Dunham singled, doubled and drove in three runs, with Peter Dunham adding three hits and two RBIs as Andrew Pullano and Mike Masterpole also drove in a pair of runs.
