Jamesville-DeWitt’s baseball team did not give East Syracuse-Minoa a warm welcome back from its South Carolina school-break trip, even if the weather was plenty warm.
A single rally, plus great pitching from Max Bregande, pushed the Red Rams past the Spartans 2-1 last Monday, launching a week where J-D would sweep all three of its opponents.
Only in the first inning did J-D get to ESM pitcher Steve Brownell, scoring twice. Dan Canfield had an RBI hit, driving home Chris Lenish, while Paul Fitzgibbons used one of his two hits to drive home Canfield.
Brownell blanked the Rams from there, pitching a complete game despite getting just one strikeout. But Bregande went the route, too, limiting ESM to a third-inning run and five hits overall while earning seven strikeouts. Bregande gave up a lone walk.
J-D went to Fulton on Wednesday afternoon and maintained that momentum, this time breaking out on the offensive end to rip the Red Raiders 14-1.
A four-run first inning put the Rams in charge, and the margin kept building until J-D scored six times in the top of the seventh to cap off a 16-hit effort.
Not only did Matt Yonta pitch six innings and strike out 14, he also lashed out three hits, all doubles, walked and scored four runs. Eric Thompson had three hits, three runs scored and three RBIs. Fitzgibbons drove in four runs and Nick Austin added three RBIs as Jimmy Sinopoli managed three hits, too.
Then the Red Rams completed its 3-0 week by topping Cortland 9-2 on Friday afternoon. Wasting little time, J-D built a 6-0 lead by the end of the second inning, more than enough for Chris McGee, who pitched a complete game and struck out six.
Lenish led at the plate with two hits and three RBIs. Canfield and John Werbowsky each drove in two runs, while Yonta managed a double, RBI and two runs scored.
ESM, meanwhile, returned home on Wednesday, taking on Phoenix and again struggling to find offense in a 6-0 loss to the Firebirds.
The Spartans only managed five hits off Phoenix pitcher Emilio Tassone, who struck out seven. Meanwhile, ESM pitchers Greg Fingar and Joel Clark avoided any big trouble, but the Firebirds scored in five of the seven innings, steadily getting away.
A day later, the offensive struggles continued in a 7-2 loss to Bishop Ludden. ESM managed eight hits, but could not convert those chances, stranding runners against Gaelic Knights pitcher Cory Poplawski.
Despite this, the Spartans took a 1-0 lead into the bottom of the fourth inning, when Ludden took command with four runs off Casey Sullivan. Steve Loder worked in relief, but the Gaelic Knights pulled away as Kyle Hawk led them with two hits and three RBIs.
