Once area high school baseball teams were able to break out of their forced indoor exile and see real game action, the results proved quite varied.
But in the case of East Syracuse Minoa, it was nothing short of triumphant as, led by Ryan Seburn, the Spartans managed to record a no-hitter in last Monday’s 14-0 victory over East Syracuse Minoa.
Seburn, who is headed for Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey next fall, got the nod and promptly piled up strikeouts. Of the 15 outs he recorded without allowing a hit, 14 were strikeouts.
Staying on a pitch count, Seburn left in the sixth inning, but ESM still wanted the no-hitter and got it when relievers Tanner Waldman and Ricky Neuser worked one inning apiece, combining for five strikeouts of their own.
At the plate, the Spartans improved as the game went on, building a 6-0 lead through five innings and then tacking on eight more runs in the last two frames.
Of ESM’s 12 hits, three came from Nolan Penoyer, while Justin Kingsley got two hits, matched Penoyer by scoring three runs and earned three RBIs. Seburn, Tanner Waldman, Sam Jenkins and Josh Gilkey drove in two runs apiece as Colin Williams got two hits and an RBI.
In the new Salt City Athletic Conference Empire division format, ESM would have its return match with Oswego a day later, but got the same result as it again prevailed over the Bucs, this time by a 6-2 margin.
A three-run first inning was all that was needed, though the Spartans would tack on a run in the third and two runs in the fifth. Williams went three-for-three, while Gilkey had two RBIs as Neuser, Seburn and Nick Reppi joined Williams with one RBI apiece.
Neuser could not quite match the combined no-hit gem of the night before, but he did hold Oswego to just two hits in six innings of work, amassing 10 strikeouts and only allowing a single walk.
Going for three in a row on Saturday, ESM lost, 9-3, to Camden, who scored all of its runs in the first inning against starter Dan Garris and held on from there, despite strong relief efforts from Gilkey and Neuser. Seburn and Williams both drove in runs at the plate.
Contrast this with Jamesville-DeWitt and the way it struggled in last Tuesday’s opener against Fulton, a 9-4 defeat to the Red Raiders.
The Red Rams, who reached the sectional Class A finals a year ago before falling to Whitesboro, overcame an early 3-0 deficit with run-scoring hits by Scottie O’Bryan, Parker Wing and Mark Toscano.
But that 4-3 lead vanished when the Red Raiders struck for two runs in the third, fourth and sixth innings against J-D’s pitching trio of Sean Hlywa, A.J. Ortega and Carter Kowalczyk. Cole Cotton and Austin Flemming led Fulton with three RBIs apiece.
Despite this setback, J-D stepped up on Friday and beat Fayetteville-Manlius 10-8, coming from behind as the Rams scored five runs in the bottom of the fourth to erase an 8-3 deficit and then got two runs in the sixth inning to move ahead for good.
Nolan Giblin and Mateo Santos each recorded three hits for J-D, with Santos and O’Bryan earning two RBIs apiece. Giblin, Nick Brotzki and Zach Goodson also drove in runs as Ortega pitched three innings in relief, striking out five to earn the win.
On the turf at Onondaga Community College, Bishop Grimes opened its season against Bishop Ludden and took a 4-3 defeat to the Gaelic Knights.
But it was nearly a terrific comeback. The Cobras trailed, 4-0, going to the top of the seventh, only to strike for three runs as Matt Vonden Steinen singled and crossed the plate, with Joe Wike and Tyler Wait also scoring runs.
Ludden starting pitcher Tom Westers was able to record the final out, though, as he held Grimes to five hits, two each by Vonden Steinen and Wike, and struck out 11. Wike and David Cifonelli had pitched three innings apiece for the Cobras, combining for eight strikeouts and limiting the Gaelic Knights to six hits.
A day later, Grimes was shut down at Skaneateles, a 4-0 loss where Lakers ace Cregg Scherrer combined with reliever Tommy Reed on a no-hitter.
Scherrer did most of the work, striking out 15 Cobras batters in six innings and only surrendering walks to Skyler Gashi, Zen Lapointe and Joe Uygun. Jordan Newman pitched for Grimes, allowing single runs in the second and third innings and two runs in the fifth.
In Saturday’s 10-8 defeat to Phoenix, the Cobras erased a 6-0 deficit by the bottom of the fourth, only to have the Firebirds net single runs in the fifth and sixth innings to move in front for good.
Newman led Grimes with three hits, with Lapointe getting two hits as he scored three runs. Gashi and Wike added two hits apiece. Cifonelli pitched 5 2/3 innings, with Wike working the last 1 1/3 innings in relief.
