East Syracuse-Minoa’s baseball team managed to emerge from back-to-back games with Jamesville-Dewitt and Christian Brothers Academy with a hard-fought split.
J-D beat the Spartans 8-2 last Tuesday afternoon. Leading from the start, the Red Rams gained a 3-0 edge by the second inning. After ESM closed the gap to 3-2, J-D pulled clear with three runs in the bottom of the fourth.
Chris Lenish smashed a home run, scored twice and earned two RBIs. Paul Fitzgibbons drove in three runs as Nick Austin scored three runs. Jimmy Sinopoli had a double and two RBIs as John Werbowky also drove in a run.
Sinopoli pitched, too, going six innings for the win before Chris McGee worked the final inning in relief. ESM’s Brandon Breen hit a solo home run as Joel Clark took the loss.
Two days later, the Spartans went to CBA, and were on the brink of another defeat before rising up in the seventh inning to stun the Brothers 5-3.
Going to the top of the seventh, CBA led, 3-1, and Webb Little was cruising along. But ESM cut the gap to 3-2 on Greg Fingar’s single that scored Matt Hunter, and Jack Burgan hit a clutch triple that scored both the tying and go-ahead runs.
ESM added one more tally and then turned to Fingar, who pitched a scoreless seventh to close out the game. Fingar had eight strikeouts to overcome 10 CBA hits, three of them by Mike Trasolini.
J-D, meanwhile, was 11-1 going into Thursday’s game at Homer, where it rallied from behind to take a late lead, only to surrender it at the end of an exciting 6-5 loss to the Trojans.
An early 2-0 lead disappeared when Homer scored twice in the third and fourth innings. But J-D didn’t flinch, erasing that 4-2 deficit with single runs in the fourth and fifth innings and moving back in front, 5-4, when Sam Crisalli’s single scored Werbowky after a botched pick-off got Werbowky into scoring position.
Even that wasn’t enough, though, as Homer, who had won seven of its previous eight games, got a walk from Millet DeAngeles and a double from Igor Sokolik to put runners on second and third. Jake Hayes then singled off Crisalli (who had relieved starter Dylan McGee) through the drawn-in J-D infield, scoring DeAngeles and Sokolik to end it.
J-D concluded its week with a 3-1 non-league victory over New Hartford on Saturday afternoon, with Crisalli pitching a complete game, holding the Spartans to four hits and striking out 10.
Still, the Rams trailed, 1-0, until it tied the game in the bottom of the fifth and won it with a pair of runs in the sixth inning. Werbowky had two hits and an RBI, with Crisalli driving in a run to help his own cause.
In between all this, ESM took a 9-8 defeat to Mexico. Down 6-0 after two innings, ESM caught up with a six-run outburst in the top of the third and sneaked in front, 7-6, before the Tigers scored three times in the bottom of the fourth to reclaim the lead for good.
Breen took the loss, despite solid relief work from Fingar, Sam Pascarella and Mike Hearn. Pascarella also hit a home run as he got three RBIs, while Fingar and Burgan had two RBIs apiece.
CBA, who lost 8-3 to Cortland on April 27, got quick revenge in last Tuesday’s rematch at St. Denis Field, relying on the power of Little and Mason Garlatti to pound ts way to a 16-8 victory.
The Brothers lit up Brian Hughes, Cortland’s pitching ace. Hughes had shut down Jamesville-DeWitt 4-2 back on April 18, when the Red Rams were unbeaten and ranked no. 2 in the state.
The Brothers had to hit, since Cortland took a 4-1 lead in the second inning and, after CBA scored five times in the bottom of the third, got its own three-run rally in the top of the fourth, plus a run in the fifth, to go in front 8-6.
It was all CBA from that point, though, as it chased Hughes with another five-run rally in the bottom of the fifth and tacked on five more runs in the sixth to get clear.
Twice, Garlatti went deep for home runs, adding up to six RBIs, while Little also went deep and doubled as part of a three-for-four effort that led to seven RBIs. Camillo Spinoso and Tim Corapi each scored three times and drove in single runs as Mike Trasolini doubled and scored three runs.
Andrew Gacek was valuable, too, pitching two scoreless innings in relief of Emmett Dunn, who won despite giving up a home run to Caden Giroux and two doubles to Hughes.
Right before the rematch with Cortland, CBA first had to make a late comeback against Fulton to pull out a 7-5 victory over the Red Raiders.
Fulton pitcher Peter Ravesi did an effective job silencing the Brothers’ bats after giving up a pair of first-inning runs. That left CBA trailing 5-2 going to the bottom of the fifth.
A run in that inning made it 5-3, but the Brothers really got to Ravesi in the sixth, erupting for four runs to reclaim the lead. Sam Little led the attack, finishing with a double, triple, three runs scored and two RBIs, while Trasolni scored twice, joining Little and Connor Gollegly with single RBIs.
Starting pitcher Mike Lanzafame struggled, but Tommy Benz was sensational in relief, giving up just one run in four innings of work and striking out five to earn the victory.
