Since its first-round brush with trouble against Solvay, the Christian Brothers Academy baseball team never received a serious challenge on its way to the Section III Class B title.
Even in the pressurized atmosphere of Wednesday’s championship game at Rome’s DeLutis Field, the Brothers seized control early and used its potent bats to keep that control, eventually beating Adirondack by a score of 10-5.
All told, CBA scored 42 runs in four sectional games on its way to the title, and any small mistake made against this lineup would be costly — as the Wildcats, 20-4 going into the final after playoff wins over South Jefferson, Clinton and Lowville, quickly found out.
The first inning proved vital. CBA already had a run in the books when it pulled out a trio of two-out, two-strike hits that grew the lead to 4-0.
After a run in the bottom of the third made it 5-0, the Brothers kept going in the bottom of the third, taking advantage of the gusty wind at DeLutis by producing extra-base shots that led to four more runs and a 9-0 advantage.
This knocked Adriondack pitcher Jordan Mills out of the game. And while Nick Winters did a fine job in relief, that major damage had already been rendered.
Shaun McGraw tripled, while Bryant Moore, Pete Clarke and Spencer Dunn each got doubles. Dan Tartaglia poured in three RBIs, while Flynn drove in two runs. Dunn, Pat Wiese and Dan Sisto each had one RBI.
Staked to that huge early lead, pitcher Mike Kitts relaxed and did a solid job until Adirondack plated all of its runs in the fourth and fifth innings, slashing CBA’s margin in half. But Kitts settled down again, and closed out the game with two shutout frames.
This sends the Brothers to Monday night’s Class B regional final, to be played at 7 p.m. at Alliance Bank Stadium against the Section IV champions. The winner advances to the state final four June 14 at Broome County Community College in Binghamton, with the semifinals at 1 p.m. and the championship game at 4 p.m.
