Well planted in the state Class A top 10, the Christian Brothers Academy baseball team has designs on a Section III title, especially given the way things went on the last weekend of the regular season.
An impressive 4-1 win at Class AA power Liverpool on May 18 was followed, a day later, by the Brothers going to Solvay and blanking the Bearcats 12-0.
Cade Bacon pitched four innings, combining with relievers Joey Marsallo and Anthony Marsallo to limit Solvay to six hits while, at the plate, CBA used five-run rallies in the third and sixth innings to get away.
Amid a 15-hit attack, Alec Jewett and Mike Schaefer each had three hits, Jewett doubling twice as he got three RBIs. Jewett drove in two runs, with Kent Wilson scoring three times as Jack Harrigan and Tommy Marzullo had one RBI apiece.
A local showdown loomed on Monday, CBA trying to halt Bishop Grimes’ seven-game win streak. But the Cobras had more important games ahead of them, so it rested its top pitchers and the Brothers prevailed 16-1.
The game broke open when CBA struck for seven runs in the top of the second, capped by Kodi Dotterer’s two-run home run. Mostly, though, the Brothers relied on singles and doubles to amass eight more runs in the next five innings to bring about the mercy rule.
Of far greater significance to Grimes was its showdown with Westhill a day later, the winner to finish second behind CBA in the OHSL Liberty American division.
But Grimes struggled here, too, in a 15-5 defeat, the Warriors breaking out of a 3-3 tie with five runs in the fourth and sixth innings as Ryan Bennett went five-for-five with three RBis and three runs scored.
Joe Wike took the loss, lasting five innings before Alex Williams relieved him. Matt Tarby did have two doubles and two RBIs, with Wike, Dalton Damuth and Ben Rivett driving in one run apiece.
On Wednesday, CBA lost, 5-3, to Oswego, but still found out that it had the top seed for the sectional Class A tournament, where it would await a quarterfinal against Fulton or Carthage early next week.
Jamesville-DeWitt broke out the bats for last Monday’s game against Rome Free Academy and bashed the Black Knights 14-6, peaking with a six-run third inning and scoring twice in four other innings, too.
Though helped by six RFA errors, the Red Rams did have 12 hits, including Nick Brotzki’s home run as he and Matt Alexander both finished with three RBIs. Bailey Doust and Zach Goodson had three hits apiece, driving in single runs as RBIs also went to Nolan Giblin, Murphy Foss and Logan Wing.
East Syracuse Minoa continued its late-season surge by taking out Auburn 5-1 last Monday night at the Onondaga Community College complex.
They were 0-0 until the fifth inning, when the Maroons got a run, only to have the Spartans answer it and then, in the bottom of the sixth, break out for four decisive runs to aid pitcher Sean Welch, who in six innings held Auburn to four hits.
Josh Gilkey doubled, tripled, singled and got two RBIs, also pitching the last inning in relief of Welch. Brendan Seburn, Colin Williams and Ben Lieb each had two hits, with Williams, Nolan Penoyer and Jacob Buell driving in one run apiece.
All of these results meant that J-D would hold the no. 2 seed for the sectional Class A playoffs – and ESM would have the no. 7 seed, meaning the Red Rams and Spartans, who split two regular-season meets, clash next Tuesday in the sectional quarterfinals.
