Whatever else happened to the Skaneateles baseball team in the Section III Class B playoffs, it would prove a memorable experience because of what Paul Musso did on the mound during Thursday’s opening-round game against Solvay.
All Musso did was come within one strike of throwing a perfect game for the no. 9 seed Lakers, but he “settled” for a no-hitter and a 1-0 victory over the no. 8 seed Bearcats.
Though Skaneateles had made up all kinds of games early in the week as it raced to share the OHSL Liberty division regular-season title with Cazenovia, Musso was held out, waiting to take his turn in the post-season against a Solvay team the Lakers beat twice in the regular season, by margins of 7-1 on May 5 and 9-4 on May 13.
And Musso had to be good, because Solvay’s Sal Dahlin matched him through four scoreless innings, though Dahlin did surrender some hits. By the time the top of the fifth was done, Musso had faced 15 Bearcats batters and had retired them all.
Finally, Skaneateles got on the board in the bottom of the fifth. Having pecked away at Dahlin (Joe Hagen and Jarrett McDonald each had two hits), the Lakers put John Texeira in scoring position, and Nick Hyland brought him home with a single.
Now Musso had to protect that one-run lead, as well as his burgeoning gem. He made it through the sixth inning perfect, and in the top of the seventh got the first batters – 20 up, 20 down.
One more obstacle remained to a perfect game, and it was Solvay’s Sam Kippen, who worked the count full. A strike away from closing it out, Musso threw ball four to Kippen – but quickly recovered to retire the next batter and finish a no-hitter.
There was little time to celebrate, because two days later the Lakers would try and upend top seed Westhill in the Class B quarterfinals, attempting to avenge a pair of regular-season defeats (8-0 on April 12, 8-4 on April 28) to the Warriors.
In this tense thriller, Skaneateles led early, gave up that lead, and nearly took it back in the seventh inning before its comeback fell just short in a 4-3 defeat to the Warriors.
It was Nick Hyland’s turn on the mound for the Lakers against Warriors ace Sam Walsh. And Walsh didn’t have his best stuff.
Staked to a 1-0 lead by Brad Canavan’s RBI double, Walsh gave up two runs in the top of the second without surrendering a hit as he walked four batters, hit another and watched on run score on Joe Hagen’s a squeeze bunt.
When Walsh walked Sepp Martin to lead off the top of the third, Mike Burton took over on the mound for the Warriors, and he promptly blanked the Lakers over the course of the next four innings, overcoming two more Laker walks in the fourth to get out of further trouble.
Westhill went in front 3-2 in the bottom of the third on back-to-back doubles from Walsh and Bobby Antonacci, a sacrifice bunt and Canavan’s RBI groundout. An insurance run came in the fourth thanks to two walks and another squeeze bunt, this one from Galen Hayes.
Hyland silenced the Warriors from there, giving up six hits and three walks in his complete-game effort, but the Lakers still trailed 4-2 going to the top of the seventh.
Teixeira led off with a walk, and Collin Jones singled, putting runners on first and second with no one out. Burton exited, replaced by Joe Sweeny, who struck out Martin for the first out.
A wild pitch moved Teixeira and Jones to scoring position, and then Hyland walked. Now the Lakers had the tying runs in scoring position and the go-ahead run at first, still with just one out.
Jake Reed hit it hard to center, but Chris Coates caught it, and while it scored Teixeira, now there were two out. Jim Drancsak put it in play as he grounded to Ryan Roland, who threw out Drancsak at first to end it.
