ONONDAGA COUNTY – A May 22 defeat to Homer had temporarily halted the Christian Brothers Academy baseball team, but it quickly found its winning form again.
More importantly, the Brothers did so against a top-quality opponent, taking on Westhill Monday and shutting down the Warriors in a 4-1 decision.
Mike Schaefer was largely responsible for CBA’s margin, driving in three total runs with hits in the first and third innings as Kodi Dotterer also got an RBI. Matt Boule had three hits and scored twice.
Three pitchers – Schaefer, Luke Boule and Casey Vaughan – combined to limit the Warriors to three hits, earning nine strikeouts and overcoming seven walks.
Meanwhile, Jamesville-DeWitt, coming off a May 21-22 two-game sweep of East Syracuse Minoa, struggled once more as it met Auburn Monday and lost, 13-2, to the Maroons.
Matt Sweeney’s two-run single in the bottom of the third put the Red Rams up 2-1, but Auburn erupted for four runs in the fourth and seven runs in the fifth as Ryan Birchard homered, got three singles and piled up seven RBIs to carry the Maroons at the plate.
The two-game series concluded a day later with J-D again falling to Auburn, this time 5-1. Alexander singled and scored in the top of the third to tie it, 1-1, but the Maroons answered with two runs in the bottom of the third to lead for good.
Tim Scheftic pitched four innings and kept Auburn from getting away despite allowing 12 hits before Jake Ogata took over in relief. The Rams were held to two hits by Maroons ace Will Coleman, who struck out 10.
ESM, for its part, took a frustrating 6-5 defeat to Oswego Monday where it traded third-inning runs before the Buccaneers scored twice in the bottom of the fourth.
After a run in the sixth, the Spartans appeared to pull it out when it scored three times in the top of the seventh to lead 5-3, only to have Oswego answer in the bottom of the seventh with a three-run rally to win it.
Nate Pullano, in defeat, singled twice and drove in two runs. Spencer Carnival scored twice and got two hits as Jordan Sanson and Brad Herrington had one RBI apiece.
Another close game with Oswego followed, and again ESM lost by a single run, 11-10, this time nearly making a stirring comeback in the bottom of the seventh as it scored four times to cut into an 11-6 deficit.
The Bucs held on, though, despite Sanson’s three hits as he and Garrett Hockey both drove in a pair of runs. Carnival, Pullano and Jacob White also had two-hit outings as Kevin Stewart and Jimmy Ferns also earned RBIs.
Fayetteville-Manlius met Cicero-North Syracuse Monday, the Northstars barely removed from a 5-4, 12-inning defeat to Baldwinsville on May 22 that halted an eight-game win streak.
But the Hornets could not take advantage, falling 6-1 as Connor Wieczorek drove home Chris Hoalcraft in the bottom of the first, but F-M got shut out from there by C-NS pitchers Jacob Crystal and Bryce Zicaro, who gave up just three hits between them.
Bishop Grimes took a 10-1 defeat to Skaneateles last Monday, its lone run coming in the sixth inning as Matt Cromp drove home Seth Murphy, who had two of the Cobras’ four hits against Lakers pitcher James Musso.
