Once again, the temperamental Central New York weather caused some changes with the Baldwinsville baseball team’s best-laid plans.
The state Class AA no. 7-ranked Bees were set to face undefeated, state no. 17-ranked Cicero-North Syracuse last Tuesday in a big early-season clash of Class AA favorites, but it got rained out and moved to Friday – where again the threat of bad weather, which did show up at the time the game would have been played, forced a postponement.
Otherwise, the Bees got its full slate of games (four of them) in, claiming three in a row before Rochester McQuaid put an end to B’ville’s five-game win streak on Saturday, the Knights edging the Bees 3-2.
McQuaid got to Bees starting pitcher Brett DeLola for a pair of first-inning runs. B’ville tied it, 2-2, in the bottom of the the third as Jake Norton and Colin Conklin scored the runs, but the Knights quickly answered with a single run in the top of the fourth to get back in front.
From there, relief pitcher Casey McAlister shut McQuaid down, but the Bees’ offense would mostly struggle in the chilly, windy conditions, managing just three hits – one each from Conklin, Scott Blewett and Josh Demoski.
Long before all this, B’ville hosted Central Square last Monday and put together a big fourth inning in support of Blewett and beat the Red Hawks 11-3.
Blewett kept Central Square quiet throughout the early going, but didn’t have much support, only leading 1-0 through three innings. Then, in the bottom of the fourth, the Bees batted around, notching seven runs and chasing Red Hawks starter Parker Reese.
Gabe Levanti crushed his team’s first home run of the season, as he, along with Conklin and Josh Savacool, each got two RBIs. Levanti and Conklin both scored a pair of run as Norton, Zach Leo and Pat Merryweather got one RBI apiece.
Once it had that big lead, B’ville could afford to rest Blewett, who exited after five innings of one-hit ball that included 10 strikeouts against four walks. McAllister and John Mercurio each worked an inning of relief to close it out.
After the first C-NS rainout, the Bees were able to visit Syracuse West on Wednesday afternoon, managing just seven hits, but relying on its patience at the plate to still earn an easy 12-1 victory.
For a while, Syracuse West hung in there, only trailing 4-1 going to the sixth inning. But the Bees used four runs in that frame and four more in the seventh to get away.
A big part of that was B’ville drawing 14 walks from Syracuse West pitchers. Jimmy Schmidt got four of those walks, adding to a double as he and Leo both three runs. Blewett had two RBIs, while Levanti drew three walks. Demoski, Conklin, Norton and Kevin Carson had one RBI apiece.
Merryweather, taking his turn in the rotation, struck out 11 in six innings to overcome four hits and four walks allowed. He also had a double, walk and RBI at the plate.
B’ville made it five in a row on Thursday by turning back Rome Free Academy 16-6. Already with a 3-0 lead, the Bees decided matters by batting around in the third and fourth innings, getting six runs in each frame to make it 15-1.
Levanti and Norton both hit home runs, with Levanti adding a double and finishing with five RBIs. Blewett and Savacool (who doubled twice) each got three hits and two RBIs, with Schmidt adding a double and triple as he drove in two runs. Conklin scored three times and also pitched 5 1/3 innings to earn the win.
The second C-NS rainout and the loss to McQuaid dampened things for a bit, but B’ville would get a chance to rebound early this week when it faced Liverpool and Syracuse East prior to a Saturday trip to Murnane Field to play Utica Proctor.
