While it has gone many great experiences in its long and illustrious history, the Baldwinsville baseball team is entering all kinds of new territory in 2014.
For one thing, the Bees are the reigning state Class AA champions. That title, earned for the first time 10 months ago in Binghamton, is still a fresh memory, but it also makes B’ville the biggest game of the season for every single opponent it faces this spring.
Another new consideration manifested itself when the Bees, who saw weather postpone its first four games (again Fayetteville-Manlius, Auburn, Liverpool and Oswego), took to the field for its season opener Wednesday against Syracuse East at Nottingham High School.
Not only were parents and fans in attendance, so was a small army of scouts, all present to see the Bees’ imposing senior right-handed pitching ace, Scott Blewett, who did not disappoint as B’ville went on to beat East by a score of 3-0.
At 6-foot-6 and 230 pounds, Blewett, along with Pat Merryweather, served as the lethal one-two pitching combination in B’ville’s state title run in 2013.
Now, with Marryweather graduated, Blewett is the star attraction, and his work in off-season showcases all over the country has some thinking that he might be a first-round pick in the Major League Baseball Entry Draft in June.
To that end, more than 20 scouts followed Blewett’s every move, from warm-ups to his six innings on the mound, which proved quite effective.
Other than a pair of hits (one of them a fourth-inning double) and a walk, Blewett, whose fastball has been clocked up to 96 miles per hour, mowed down the Syracuse East batters, recording 15 strikeouts.
Even with Blewett doing so well, the game was in doubt until the top of the fifth, when B’ville pushed across a pair of runs, Blewett scoring one of them as, besides his pitching prowess, he also managed two of the team’s three hits.
The Bees would add a run in the top of the seventh, and then watch as John Mercurio picked up the final three outs for the save.
