On consecutive days, the Jamesville-DeWitt and East Syracuse-Minoa baseball teams resumed league action with one-run defeats of wildly varying persuasions. For the Red Rams, the pain was in seeing two substantial leads slip away during last Thursday’s 12-11, eight-inning loss to the Homer Trojans. For the Spartans, the trouble came from seeing a good pitching effort wasted in a 3-2 defeat to Chittenango. Homer arrived at the game with a 7-1 record and boasting one of Central New York’s best hitting lineups. Yet J-D pitcher Matt Yonta contained them well, and the Rams got to the Trojans early, bolting to a 7-1 lead in the top of the third inning. It stayed that way until the fifth, when Homer cut the margin to 7-4. A J-D run in the sixth made it 8-4, and by the seventh the Rams were three outs from a big upset. But the Trojans, using home runs by Zach Blanden, Andy Parker and Jake Casey, roared back with four runs in the bottom of the seventh, tying it 8-8 and sending it to extra frames. J-D appeared to recover in the top of the eighth by getting three runs and moving back in front 11-8. Again, Homer rallied, pulling even 11-11 in the bottom of the eighth before Kevin McNeil’s double brought home the decisive run. Tyler Kirwan led the Rams’ attack with a home run, double, two runs scored and four RBIs. Brad Kogut drove in two runs as he, along with Dan Canfield and Mason Schoeneck, scored two runs apiece. When ESM hit the field on Friday, it had ace Mike Para on the mound, but he got into quick trouble as Chittenango dusted him for two runs in the top of the first inning. Para settled down, blanking the Bears as ESM used single runs in the third and fourth innings off Jeff Pierce to tie it, 2-2. Steve Loder got credit for an RBI. However, Para could not hold on as Chittenango pushed ahead with a run in the fifth and held on the rest of the way. Fuming at the loss to Homer, J-D took it out on Phoenix Saturday in a much-needed 13-1 victory. The Rams scored three runs in each of the first two innings and kept on adding to the margin in support of pitcher Justin Marzella, who went five innings for the win and struck out 11 Firebirds. Kirwan scored three times as he got two hits and an RBI. Marzella supported his own cause as he and Schoeneck both managed three RBIs. Chris Lenish drove in two runs as Kogut and Dylan Newcombe drove in single runs. J-D and ESM still have a head-to-head meeting on tap, plus several other games to make up from all the rain early this season.