Perhaps the hard work the Cazeonvia and Chittenango baseball teams had to do just to get into their respective Section III playoffs took a toll – or maybe just the brackets didn’t work in either team’s favor.
Whatever the causes, though, the facts remained the same, with each local side knocked out in Tuesday’s opening round of the sectional tournament.
The Lakers, with the no. 11 seed in Class C, lost, 12-0, to no. 6 seed Holland Patent in last Tuesday’s opening round just as, in Class A, no. 14 seed Chittenango saw its upset bid at no. 3 seed Fulton fall just short in an 8-6 defeat.
For Cazenovia, whose season would end with a 9-10 record, the assignment against a Holland Patent side that reached the sectional finals a year ago before falling to Westhill was daunting enough, but was made more so by having to face Golden Knights pitching ace Nico Ramos, whose resume this spring includes a pair of no-hitters.
The Lakers did get a hit – but that was all, Ramos amassing 12 strikeouts in five innings, which was more than enough time for his teammates to go to work at the plate to make sure he didn’t have to last too long on the mound.
HP chased Cazenovia starter Matt Regan by the third inning, having already lead 2-0 through two before scoring five times in that frame. Despite their best efforts, Dylan Roy, Judson Spaulding and Josh Bauder could only minimize the Golden Knights’ success at the plate as Ramos, going three-for-four, piled up four RBIs.
It was far closer at Fulton, where Chittenango, who had played well down the stretch (including a May 19 win over Cazenovia), made a spirited comeback attempt following a terrible start.
Fulton jumped all over Bears starter Wyatt Myers for three runs in each of the first two innings. Still, Myers stayed on the mound until the bottom of the fourth, when two more runs allowed Myers to give way to Zane Cowburn.
While Cowburn settled things down, Chittenango was climbing back into the fray, having netted four runs in the top of the fourth. It tacked on single runs in the next two innings, but saw its rally cut short when Fulton Nolan Bonnie, who had replaced Noah Guernsey in the fifth, got the final outs.
Cowburn also had three of the Bears’ seven hits, scratching out an RBI as Matt Milliman singled, doubled and drove in a run. Myers and Tom Valentine also had RBIs as Cole Cotton led the Red Raiders with three hits, two of them doubles, and two runs scored, while Adam Baldwin added two RBIs. Chittenango finished its season with a 9-12 mark.
