The Bishop Grimes baseball team is setting the pace in the OHSL Liberty National division, and every win it could gain would further tighten its grip on that top spot.
During last Monday’s game against visiting Phoenix, the Cobras put the ball in pitcher Jim Perra’s hands, and he delivered his best effort of the season in a 7-2 victory over the Firebirds.
Phoenix was coming off a week when it put a scare into Westhill and swept a doubleheader from Skaneateles, but Perra held them to two hits and three walks in a complete-game effort.
Meanwhile, Grimes used a trio of first-inning runs to take charge, adding runs in the third, fifth and sixth innings as Perra helped his own cause with three hits, including a double, and two RBIs. Trevor Pokines and Adam Dominic each drove in one run.
Going to Hannibal two days later, the Cobras found itself trailing midway through the game, but a big fifth inning turned things around, and helped Grimes beat the Warriors 10-7.
The Cobras sprinted out to a 5-0 lead by the third inning, only to see Hannibal get four runs in the third and two runs in the fourth to go in front, 6-5. Unfazed by this, Grimes put together a five-run rally in the top of the fifth that proved decisive.
Johnny Wike had two hits, two walks and two RBIs, with Tyler Hartzog and Shawn Gashi also driving in two runs. Shawn Gashi scored four times as Pokines, Jack Rotondo, Skyler Gashi and James Belton each had one RBI. Hartzog pitched well late in relief of Rotondo.
Back home Saturday to take on Skaneateles, Grimes pulled out a 3-2 victory in eight innings, with Pokines surrendering both of the Lakers’ runs in the first inning and then pitching a shutout the rest of the way, allowing just five hits while striking out seven.
Jim Drancsak pitched for Skaneateles and blanked Grimes until the bottom of the fifth, when the Cobras scored twice to tie it and then won it with a run in the bottom of the eighth. Austin DiRienzo tripled and singled, joining Wike in the RBI column.
Fayetteville-Manlius, who came close to knocking off West Genesee back on April 13 (a 5-4 defeat in the bottom of the seventh inning), didn’t fare as well last Monday night at Onondaga Community College, where the Hornets lost, 17-7, to the Wildcats.
In a game that was a fund-raiser for the “More Than A Game” Foundation that benefits Golisano Chlidren’s Hospital, F-M matched WG’s three-run first inning, only to see the Wildcats get a lot more, building an 8-3 advantage by the third and then scoring seven times in the top of the fourth.
Anthony Nucerino did get three hits and two RBIs on the Hornets’ side, with Josh Loeffler adding a pair of RBIs. Mitch Hoalcraft also had three hits and drove in a run as Sean Putnam added an RBI. On WG’s side, Colin BeVard had three hits, including a home run, and earned three RBIs as Joey Vetter earned a team-best four RBIs.
A day later, the Hornets put up its own big run total, hammering Central Square 18-7. F-M plated two or more runs in each of the first five innings, including five runs in the second and fifth, and finished with 14 hits overall.
It turned into a power display as Loeffler hit two home runs and finished with five RBIs. Nucerino, Hoalcraft and Colin Sommers also went deep, with Nucerino and Sal Gorgoni each getting a pair of RBIs. Zach Bernstein and Kyle Walters added RBIs of their own.
Then F-M held its own in Thursday’s non-league game against state Class A no. 6-ranked Vernon-Verona-Sherrill, leading for a long while before the Red Devils rallied to beat the Hornets 4-3.
Nucerino and Bernstein each had two hits and one RBI, F-M going in front, 3-1, thanks to a run in the third inning and two runs in the fourth. But VVS erased that lead by scoring three times in the fifth, as Ben Ziarko and Ryan McNamara each hit home runs to help the Red Devils prevail.
That confidence carried over into Saturday’s 7-2 non-league win over Penfield (Section V),where four runs in the fourth inning broke a 0-0 tie, and the Hornets tacked on three runs in the sixth. Nucerino, with five solid innings on the mound, earned the victory as he, along with Bernstein, Matt Truman and Taylor Smach, each finished with an RBI.
