Two days, two games in the 16-18 Babe Ruth World Series – and two 5-0 shutout victories for the Onondaga All-Stars.
The second of these gems was put together Friday afternoon as Bishop Grimes ace Chris Schad pitched the defending tournament champions past Southeast regional champion Mobile (Ala.) in the continuation of the series not far from Mobile, in the Alabama Gulf coast town of Andalusia.
Schad had a difficult act to follow, having seen Westhill’s Ben Walsh blank San Benito (Calif.) 5-0 in the tournament opener on Thursday morning. But it didn’t take long for Schad to get some run support.
Just as it had done so many times on its way to the Mid-Atlantic regional title earlier this month, Onondaga put up a big first inning, drawing three walks to load the bases before Chris Lenish (Jamesville-DeWitt) delivered a two-run single.
Not content with that, Onondaga tacked on two more runs, and with that quick 4-0 edge, Schad set out to shut down Mobile.
Overcoming five walks, Schad earned six strikeouts and carried a no-hitter all the way to the seventh inning before finally surrendering a hit. By that point, Onondaga had another run in the books, scored in the fifth as, again, Lenish doubled for his third RBI of the afternoon.
Continuing to take advantage of its speed in all phases of the game, Onondaga stole four bases, and saw Josh Savacool (Baldwinsville) and Wes Randall (West Genesee) use their running ability to make terrific catches in the outfield, keeping Schad’s no-hit bid alive.
Following a rest day on Saturday and rains that have caused delays in other tournament games, Onondaga returns to the diamond on Sunday night to face Charleston, the Midwest Plains champions from Missouri. Round-robin play is scheduled to end Monday night with a game against the host team from Covington County, Ala.
The fast start has all but guaranteed that Onondaga will at least make it to the elimination round, though two more wins would mean a bye directly into Wednesday’s semifinals.
