As the regular season wound down, the Baldwinsville baseball team put together one of the biggest comebacks in the program’s history amid a crazy stretch of action that included defeats in two different long contests.
The Bees trailed by 11 runs in last Tuesday’s non-league game with Christian Brothers Academy, but made it all the way back to stun the Brothers 13-12.
CBA used a pair of three-run rallies in the first two innings to seize a quick 6-0 lead. Thanks to a six-run outburst in the top of the fourth, the margin only grew, and in the bottom of the fifth inning, B’ville trailed 13-2.
It all turned around, though, when the Bees got eight runs in that fifth frame, making it 13-10. B’ville then scored twice in the sixth inning, slashing the margin to one, then got the tying and winning runs in the bottom of the seventh.
Kevin Roy’s home run and four RBIs fueled the comeback. Brett Earle doubled and drove in two runs, while Dan Dubiel and Zach Trinca got two RBIs apiece. John Feola tripled home a run as Bo Watson doubled twice, adding an RBI of his own.
A key to the rally was the way B’ville’s relief pitchers fared. Feola and Watson blanked CBA in the last two innings after early stints from Jeff Schuster and Scott Redmond.
This helped ease the pain of what took place at Henninger — an incredible epic that stretched out 14 innings (the length of two full games) before the Bees finally lost to the Black Knights 18-17.
B’ville led, 8-1, and appeared to be cruising along before Henninger tied it with seven runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. What followed, for every Bees partisan, was both exciting — and maddening.
The two sides matched two-run rallies in the seventh inning, then both scored once in the eighth. In the top of the ninth, B’ville got three runs, seizing a 14-11 lead, and again Henninger caught up with three runs.
In the 11th, 12th and 14th innings, the Bees scored, moving within three outs of ending the marathon. Every time, Henninger came back, finally scoring two runs in the bottom of the 14th to erase a 17-16 deficit and win it.
Six different B’ville pitchers saw action, with St. John taking the loss. Feola had four RBIs, with Dubiel driving in three runs as B’ville got 22 hits to Henninger’s 24. For the Black Knights, James Bardenett smacked three home runs, earned five RBIs and also pitched.
By stark contrast, even with a terrific pitching effort in last Monday’s game against West Genesee, the Bees could not catch up in a 2-1 defeat to the Wildcats.
Combined, Mike St. John, Earle and Redmond gave up just four hits. However, WG’s Dan Connor used two of those hits to bring home both his team’s runs in the third and fifth innings.
Behind 2-0, B’ville hung in, then finally got to Wildcat pitcher Adam Bishop when Watson smacked a solo home run in the bottom of the seventh inning. However, it could not tie things up, as Bishop pitched a complete game, giving up just four hits while striking out 10.
Right after the CBA rally, the Bees went east Wednesday night and got involved in a 10-inning classic with two-time defending Class AA champion Utica Proctor before taking a 7-6 loss to the Raiders.
B’ville led 4-0 in the fourth inning before Proctor got on the board. The Bees still led 6-3 when, in the bottom of the seventh, the Raiders kept it alive by scoring twice off Watson.
And it remained 5-5, through the eighth and ninth innings. Finally, in the bottom of the 10th, Proctor poked across the winning run.
Watson, in relief of Earle and Alex Riley, took the loss, despite his own plate success that included three RBIs. Dubiel and Mark Zbikowski also drove in runs.