Off to a 4-0 start, the Skaneateles baseball team would get plenty of chances to further enhance its reputation once play resumed after the school break.
First, the Lakers visited rival Marcellus, and the defending Section III Class B champion Mustangs handed Skaneateles its first defeat of the season in a tense 3-2 affair.
Trailing 1-0, the Lakers scored twice in the top of the second inning to seize a 2-1 lead, with Brandon Barron’s run-scoring double as the key blow.
After Marcellus scored twice in the third to regain the lead, Laker pitcher Luke Drancsak settled down and blanked the Mustangs the rest of the way, allowing eight hits and three walks but striking out eight.
This gave Skaneateles all kinds of time to try and solve Marcellus pitcher Mike Welsh. But Welsh proved too strong, throwing his own complete game and striking out five.
Tough as this was, Friday’s game at West Genesee provided more frustration as the Lakers could not hold a late lead, falling to the Wildcats in yet another 3-2 decision.
Here, Ryan Prochna blanked WG in the first four innings. He also got two hits at the plate and drove in a run as single runs in the third and fourth put Skaneateles in front 2-0. Drancsak also had two hits, scoring a run as Ryan Cunningham raced home with the other run.
Still, WG got to Prochna, tying it in the fifth as the Wildcats’ pitcher, Sean Pisik, singled home Nate Flask and Nick DeJohn. Adam Wierbinski brought home Steve Payette with the other run in the sixth, and Pisik got the final three outs. Prochna lost despite limiting WG to two hits overall.
If the weather allowed it, Skaneateles would get a chance to bounce back Monday, at Hannibal, before a Wednesday home showdown with Westhill and a Friday trip to Solvay.
