CENTRAL NEW YORK – Having dashed to an 8-2 start in the first half of the regular season, the Jamesville-DeWitt baseball team suddenly began to slow.
The Red Rams lost the second part of a two-game series with Oswego April 28. Then, in last Tuesday’s first-place SCAC Empire division clash with Auburn, it never could get going in a 7-1 defeat to the Maroons.
Auburn was steady and patient, netting single runs in each of the first two innings and then breaking out with three runs in the third and two runs in the fourth.
Jake Ogata pitched and surrendered all of this before Tim Cooper took over in relief, Auburn led by Myles McBride, who scored twice and got a pair of RBIs.
Meanwhile, J-D was shut out by Maroons pitcher Cooper Polcovich until Eamon Giblin’s solo home run in the bottom of the sixth, one of just five hits the Rams got off Polcovich, who amassed 11 strikeouts.
It took until Thursday for J-D to return to the win column with a fine all-around performance that resulted in a 9-2 victory over Syracuse City.
A pair of first-inning runs was followed by a five-run second, the Rams taking charge as Aaron Ko’s pair of hits led to two RBIs. Giblin and A.J. Sumida added two hits apiece, Gibling driving in a pair of runs.
Meanwhile, Luke VanMarter pitched a complete game, limiting Syracuse to five hits and three walks while recording six strikeouts.
East Syracuse Minoa, off since an April 28 win over Auburn, did not return to action until Saturday afternoon, when it faced Rome Free Academy and was impressive in a 7-2 win over the Black Knights.
A run in the third inning got the Spartans in front, but it followed with three-run rallies in the fourth and fifth as Dan Gilkey and Mike Munger both hit home runs and got two RBIs apiece. Kevin Stewart also drove in a pair of runs.
This was ample support for pitcher Carter Stewart, who in a complete-game effort limited RFA to six hits and two walks, striking out six. ESM improved its overall record to 5-9.
Bishop Grimes took a 6-3 record into last Tuesday’s game against Class B contender Cazenovia at Gutchess Field in Cortland and nearly upended the Lakers before taking an 8-7 defeat.
Grimes got to Cazenovia pitcher Jack Byrnes for two runs in the second and three runs in the third to grab an early 5-1 lead as Bruno Kinsey and Jackson Fudge led the way with two RBIs apiece.
Battling back, the Lakers used three runs in the third and four runs in the fourth to go in front 8-5 and, after the Cobras scored twice in the fifth, got Byrnes to shut out Grimes in the sixth and seventh to pull out the game. Will Markwood took the loss, splitting pitching duties with Kinsey.
Then Grimes challenged Bishop Ludden on Saturday afternoon, not quite able to keep the Gaelic Knights from winning its fourth game in as many days by a 5-2 margin.
Not until the fifth inning did the Cobras get on the board, by which point Ludden led 3-0, and it would add two runs in the sixth for insurance. Markwood went 5 2/3 innings on the mound, striking out eight but allowing six walks to go with four hits. Fudge and Brett Helmer scored Grimes’ runs.
