Such is baseball’s nature — as soon as one trend is established, another emerges to make the first one obsolete in a hurry.
Vernon Verona Sherrill had appeared to take control in the Tri-Valley League when it pounded rival Oneida 30-11 on April 29, a game shortened to six innings to spare further damage (and beat darkness).
So naturally when the Red Devils next took the field in Monday’s game at Whitesboro, it quieted down – and the Warriors could beat them 4-3 at the wire.
It looked, for a while, that VVS would win anyway. Single runs in the third, fourth and fifth innings pushed the Red Devils in front 3-2, as Tyler Mautner got two hits and Steve Davis earned an RBI.
Mitch Iseneker, with eight strikeouts and no walks allowed, was on the verge of throwing a complete game. But in the bottom of the seventh, Whitesboro, down 3-2, tied it and, with Collin Laguzza trying to force extra innings, prevailed on Matt Cornmire’s tie-breaking, two-out single.
Meanwhile, Oneida continued its hot-hitting ways — and this time got rewarded for it with a 14-5 victory over Utica-Notre Dame where Brian Chevier assumed center stage.
With another helping wind (just like the VVS game), Chevier twice went deep for home runs on his way to a career-best eight RBIs, by far the highest total for any Oneida player in a single game this season.
Oneida led 6-1 through two innings and kept on going, as
Dylan VanDresar earned a pair of doubles and Nate Mallinder got three hits. Bryan Sheridan and Evan Watson also doubled as Jeremy Rodriguez, in a five-inning mound stint, earned the win.
