Even though it has taken a couple of setbacks, the overall quality of the Baldwinsville baseball team, plus its run to the 2018 state Class AA championship game, remains difficult to ignore.
The Bees leaped up to no. 3 in last week’s state Class AA rankings, just as it returned from a weekend trip east where it had beaten a pair of Section II foes, with pitching depth a key to success.
B’ville topped Columbia 8-5 as it used three runs in the sixth inning to break out of a 4-4 tie, led by Pat Anson’s three hits and two RBIs as Matt Starczewski pitched 6 2/3 innings to earn the win. Pat May, Jake Marshall and Lucas Robinson had two hits apiece.
The Bees then claimed a 1-0 battle with Saratoga Springs, Marshall tossing a complete-game shutout as he struck out nine and only surrendered two hits. It was scoreless until the seventh, when Jason Savacool drove home Robinson with the game’s lone run.
Back home after early-week rainouts, B’ville kept up the momentum against visiting Rochester McQuaid last Wednesday afternoon, rallying to beat the Knights 7-6 in eight innings.
A wild first inning saw McQuaid net three runs but the Bees counter with a four-spot. Another run in the second extended B’ville’s lead to 5-3, where it stayed until the Knights tied it in the top of the sixth.
In the seventh, McQuaid inched in front, 6-5, but the Bees were able to pull back even and, in the eighth, pushed across the winning run, finally winning an extra-inning game that Savacool started.
Despite his struggles (seven hits, two walks), Savacool did get eight strikeouts as Chris AuClair relieved him and tossed 1 2/3 scoreless innings. Savacool and Pat May each scored twice as Marshall, Nate Ray, Michael Carni and Jeb Farneth drove in runs.
Another non-league game took place Thursday for B’ville, but it proved far less stressful as it pounded Syracuse 21-0, the Bees putting together an eight-run first inning and then scoring eight more times in the top of the fourth.
Marshall’s home run was one of 16 hits as he finished with four RBIs. May scored three times and drove in three runs, with Savacool and Anson getting two RBIs apiece.
Carni, Ray, Robinson and Bo Nicholson also drove in runs as Marshall, pitching for the second time in six days, went four innings, striking out six and only allowing three hits before Jeb Farneth and Mike Carr saw relief stints.
That same kind of production was present for B’ville again on Saturday as it rolled past Rome Free Academy 15-1, the fun starting with an eight-run first inning and continuing from there.
Starczewski continued to shine on the mound, limiting the Black Knights to three hits. May and Farneth each had three hits as May scored four times and got two RBIs. Ray, Marshall, Robinson and Trey Blasi matched May’s two-RBI output.
On Sunday, B’ville was scheduled to finish the 12-inning game it had with West Genesee that was suspended May 6 with the score still tied 4-4, then play the final game of its series with the Wildcats before a three-game set with Cicero-North Syracuse this week.
