CENTRAL NEW YORK – Pitching, power and plenty of other good traits were on display for the Cazenovia baseball team as it got back to winning form right after returning from its spring-break trip to Myrtle Beach – at least for one game, anyway.
The tested, rested and refreshed Lakers returned to its new artificial turf home field last Tuesday night and, led by Jack Donlin and Taven Reilley, rolled to an 11-1 victory over Bishop Grimes.
A two-run first inning was all that Cazenovia needed thanks to Donlin, who pitched and held the Cobras to two hits while amassing 13 strikeouts (he has 55 for the season in 25 2/3 innings) and only walking one.
Still, it was 2-1 when, in the bottom of the fourth, the Lakers erupted for seven runs, three of them trotting home on Reilley’s second home run of the season. Joey Awald and Jacob Cox had two RBIs apiece, with Danny Bliss and Nico Segall also driving in runs.
In the second game of the series at Grimes on Thursday, Cazenovia lost by a 10-9 margin, a game where it led 4-0 through two innings before the Cobras went in front with six runs in the bottom of the third.
A four-run fourth answered a Cazenovia run and made it 10-5, and while the Lakers chipped away with runs in each of the next three innings, it could not quite complete the comeback.
Donlin hit another home run, adding two singles and a walk as he got two RBIs. Reilley, Bliss and Izaak Gilbert (who pitched a complete game) also drove in runs as Bliss scored twice.
Then, on Saturday, it was a local rivalry renewed, Cazenovia against Chittenango. And it was the Bears who got the best of it thanks to pitcher Kyle Peryer, the central figure in a 3-0 victory over the Lakers.
All game long, Peryer perplexed the Cazenovia batters, surrendering just one hit – a double by Donlin – and four walks, while earning seven strikeouts.
Peryer also got early run support when Mason Corlis connected on a two-run home run in the top of the first inning off Bliss. An insurance run followed in the third, Andrew Kielbasa bringing home Zailar Caras.
Chittenango entered the week at 1-6 and ran right into Christian Brothers Academy last Tuesday afternoon, taking a 5-0 defeat to the Brothers in a game shortened to six innings by rain.
Peryer pitched well through most of his 4 1/3 innings, but the Brothers managed two runs in the third and three more runs in the fifth to move in front, including home runs by Mike Giamartino and Jack Landau. The Bears had five hits, two each by Caras and Eli Lefort, but could not get on the board against CBA pitcher Ryan Petrie, who struck out 11.
The rematch with CBA at home resulted in a 16-0 defeat, with the Brothers getting seven runs in the first inning and more than doubling that margin as 11 different players got at least one hit.
For its part, the Bears only got four hits against Ben Lovell as Lefort, Kielbasa, Quinton Hilliker and Cooper Smith earned those hits, offering no hint that, a couple of days later, Chittenango would take down Cazenovia.
Given an opportunity to get right back into form a day after falling to the Bears, Cazenovia did so, leaning more than ever on Donlin in Sunday’s 11-1 win over Solvay.
Not content with a first-inning home run, Donlin returned in the sixth and, with the bases loaded, delivered a grand slam to end the game. In between, he added a single and finished with six RBIs overall.
Oh, and Donlin also pitched a complete game, holding Solvay to four hits while striking out 11. Bobby Livingston helped out with a pair of RBIs as Segall and Gilbert also drove in runs, with Bliss and Jacob Genter both scoring twice.
