Tired of practices in gymnasiums, and hoping to expedite the process of getting its 2015 season underway, the West Genesee baseball team went out and shoveled its own field in the early days of April, and was glad to see warm weather help melt the rest of the white stuff.
Everything was clear in time for last Tuesday’s season opener against Central Square, and to celebrate, the Wildcats flattened the Redhawks with two big rallies that led to a 17-0 victory.
WG, who reached last year’s Section III Class AA semifinal before falling to Fayetteville-Manlius and returns most of its top players from 2014, showed why it could step up to the top this spring, jumping all over Central Square with eight runs in the bottom of the first inning.
As if that wasn’t enough, the Wildcats put up a run in the second inning and then, in the bottom of the fourth, managed another eight-run outburst.
Marshall Winn doubled, singled, scored twice and finished with a team-high four RBIs. Evan Reichel’s three hits led to three RBIs as Colin BeVard, Will Randall and Joey Vetter each drove in two runs. Anthony Carrodegaus, Matt VanAllen and Brian VanBeveren had one RBI apiece.
Staked to that large lead, three WG pitchers – Reichel, Vince Mills and John Schad – combined to hold the Redhawks to two hits, Reichel striking out eight in his five innings of work.
In an non-league game Saturday against Irondequoit (Section V), the Wildcats won big again, 13-2, putting together another eight-run outburst in the third inning to take charge, then adding two runs in three of the next four innings.
Winn and Ryan Greco both tripled and finished with three RBIs. Randall doubled and drove in two runs, with Reichel, Vetter and VanBeveren adding one RBI apiece. Greco, Schad, Mills and Nick Davis all saw stints on the mound, combining to hold Irondequoit to four hits.
Far away from home, Westhill began its season with its usual trip to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, but wet weather kept the Warriors from getting in a full game until a Wednesday doubleheader.
That twin bill began with Westhill defeating Chancellor (Virginia) 12-9, the Warriors scoring a run in each of the first five innings, capped by a four-run rally in the fourth.
Westhill finished that game with 16 hits, three each by Brad Canavan, Jesse Chester and Brian O’Mara. Canavan and Chris Coates led the Warriors with three RBIs apiece, while Sam Walsh drove in two runs. O’Mara crossed the plate four times as he, along with Jeff Lobello and Bobby Antonacci, drove in one run apiece. Alex Kiley scored two runs.
Later that night, against Jefferson (West Virginia), the Warriors lost, 8-2, this time surrendering runs in four of the first five innings and unable to answer. Four different pitchers – Mike Burton, Connor Tackley, Joe Sweeny and Luke Sekowski – saw action, with Coates earning a double and Antonacci adding an RBI.
In Thursday morning’s game against Hammonton (New Jersey), Westhill took a 7-0 defeat, the game scoreless until Hammonton got a run in the fifth inning, followed by two runs in the sixth and four runs in the seventh. Despite six hits, the Warriors could not get on the board. Cory DeMauro pitched four innings and took the loss.
Against another New Jersey opponent, Cherry Hill, on Friday afternoon, it proved close, but Westhill lost again, 2-1, giving up both runs in the first inning before Burton and Tackley shut out Cherry Hill the rest of the way. Ryan Roland drove in the Warriors’ lone run in the top of the fourth, but it got nothing more despite two hits apiece from Roland and Coates.
