Even though the Cazenovia baseball team has taken blemishes both small and large, it still remains a force that OHSL Liberty division opponents must respect.
The Lakers proved this in last Wednesday’s game against first-place Phoenix, managing to solve the Firebirds’ pitching ace, Adam Thoryk, and pull out a 4-1 victory in a game shortened to six innings by rain.
Thoryk had beaten defending Class B champion Westhill in his previous outing on April 17, and he started out well, blanking Cazenovia through three innings as Phoenix got a run off Liam Rogers to grab a 1-0 lead.
But in the bottom of the fourth, the Lakers solved Thoryk and drove him from the game with three runs, and then added an insurance run in the fifth. Evan Cornell’s double and two RBIs keyed the comeback, with Brodie Kellish and Cullen Franz also driving in runs.
Meanwhile, Rogers lasted five innings, allowing five hits and two walks, but striking out six. Chris Matteson worked the sixth inning and got the save.
An even more exciting game followed Friday, at Marcellus, where the Lakers blew a six-run lead, but somehow recovered with a seventh-inning comeback of its own to beat the Mustangs 10-7.
All was fine for Cazenovia going to the bottom of the fifth, as it held a 6-0 lead for pitcher Mark Dewan. But the Mustangs cut the margin in half with three runs in the fifth, and then tacked on four runs in the sixth against Dewan and Matteson to grab a 7-6 lead.
Absorbing all this, the Lakers showed its poise and promptly put up four runs of its own in the top of the seventh, giving the lead to Chad Warren, who earned the last three outs to earn the save.
Franz smacked a home run and finished with three RBIs. Rogers, Warren, Ryker Smith and Drew Devendorf drove in one run apiece as Franz and Devendorf each scored twice and Smith earned a team-best three hits.
Then Cazenovia had a rematch with Phoenix on Saturday, made up from an April 12 rainout, and once again the Lakers would prevail, a big second inning the key to a 10-4 victory over the Firebirds.
Already with a 1-0 lead, Cazenovia broke it open in the top of the second by scoring six runs, chasing Phoenix starter Corey Bowman in the process. That was enough for Matteson, who pitched four innings to get the win with relief help from Warren, Bigsby and Franz.
Amassing 13 hits, the Lakers saw Dewan and Carson Clabeaux each get three hits, with Dewan joining Devendorf and Billy Rankin as they drove in two runs apiece. Clabeaux and Ryman Seeley got single RBIs as leadoff hitter Jeff Stowell got two hits and scored three runs.
With all of the schedule changes, postponements and cancellations to deal with, Cazenovia added a game against Class A power CBA last Monday afternoon, but it quickly turned bad for the Lakers as it lost, 26-3, to the Brothers.
Wasting little time, CBA put up 10 runs in the first inning and kept going from there, amassing 21 hits against five Laker pitchers (Dewan took the loss) and taking advantage of seven Cazenovia errors, too.
Evan Cornell still managed a pair of RBIs, while Franz also drove in a run and Billy Bigsby got two hits. CBA had nine different players drive in runs, none more than Tim Corapi, who piled up six hits, including two doubles, and pounded out eight RBIs. Mike Trasolini also had six hits and drove in four runs.
The league wins quickly put the Lakers (7-4) back in order, in time for next Wednesday trip to Skaneateles and the season’s biggest game, a rematch of last year’s Section III Class B final with Westhill at NBT Bank Stadium next Friday night.
