Could it be that the Cazenovia baseball team has already enjoyed its major highlight of 2010?
Obviously the Lakers don’t hope that’s the case – but there’s no escaping the fact that Saturday’s 8-6 upset of Westhill in the season opener trumped about anything that’s happened with this program in recent years.
Not only was Westhill the defending state Class B champions, it had many players back from that title team, one that won 28 games in a row on its way to the 2009 state title in Binghamton.
Granted, it was the season opener, and many Westhill players, including Mike McMullen, Dan Karleski and Corey Hewitt, were barely a week removed from helping the boys basketball Warriors win a state Class B championship.
Still, few, if anyone, expected Cazenovia to topple them. But all that changed by the time the second inning was over.
In the top of the first, the Lakers got three runs, then followed it up with another three-run outburst in the second to make it 6-1.
Westhill would settle down and cut the margin to 6-4, but the Lakers responded by scoring twice more in the top of the fifth, then hanging on the rest of the way.
Max Kellish pitched well against Westhill’s well-regarded hitting attack, going six innings to get the win as Ben Davis picked up the save.
Zach Golden set the pace at the plate with two hits, two runs scored and two RBIs. Davis also had two hits anddrove in two runs as Kellish, Forest Blanchard and Jeff Hopsicker each gained one RBI. Blanchard matched Golden by scoring a pair of runs.
As a follow-up, the Lakers would get two more league tests this week, hosting Marcellus on Monday and visiting Bishop Ludden on Wednesday afternoon.
