The Skaneateles baseball team worked without any kind of stress last week, knowing that, no matter what it did, a Section III Class B playoff berth was awaiting them.
Perhaps that explained how the Lakers went to Hannibal last Monday afternoon and put up lots of runs early in the course of beating the Warriors 8-3.
A three-run second inning got Skaneateles in front, but it added five more runs in the third to go up 8-0. By that point, John Texeira and Marc Pietropaoli had each scored twice, with Jim Drancsak, Jarrett McDonald, Max Goldman and Joe Hagen also crossing the plate.
On the mound, Teixeira worked 5 2/3 innings, overcoming seven walks with five strikeouts and only allowing a pair of hits. Jake Reed had some difficulty in relief, but managed to close out the win.
That good play carried over into Tuesday’s game against Solvay, where two big rallies, plus solid pitching from Paul Musso, produced a 9-4, come-from-behind victory over the Bearcats.
The game was 1-1 when, in the top of the third, Solvay scored three runs to gain a 4-1 lead. Bu tin bottom of the third, Skaneateles answered, knocking out Solvay starter Davis Kippen by scoring four times to move ahead 5-4.
And it didn’t stop there as the Lakers added a four-run fifth inning for a further cushion. Drancsak, with three hits and two RBIs, led the charge, while Reed, Pietropaoli, Musso, Nick Hyland and Sepp Martin produced two hits apiece, Reed and Teixeira each scoring twice.
Musso shook off his rough third inning and contained Solvay the rest of the afternoon, constantly escaping trouble to negate the Bearcats’ nine hits and not walking a batter.
A doubleheader with Jordan-Elbridge followed on Wednesday afternoon, and Skaneateles swept it, starting with a 3-1 opener where it overcame the Eagles’ early lead with single runs in the third, fifth and seventh innings.
Then, in the nightcap, the Lakers bashed J-E 11-2, again giving up all of the Eagles’ runs in the first inning but tying it, 2-2, by the fourth, and then putting together a six-run outburst in the fifth to surge well out in front, adding three runs in the top of the seventh.
