More than half a century full of sweat, struggle and plenty of frustration had never produced, for the Fayetteville-Manlius baseball program, the moment it would enjoy late on a cool Sunday night at Onondaga Community College.
With its 4-2 victory over Baldwinsville, in the Class AA title game the Hornets finally earned its first-ever Section III championship and completed an improbable sweep of all the top seeds in the sectional tournament after going 8-11 in the regular season.
“We had 50-plus years of alumni who couldn’t do it (win a championship), and we did it for them,” said senior John Egnaczyk. “We never hit our stride until the playoffs, and then we put it all together.”
A big first inning against the Bees’ pitching ace, Jason Savacool, plus tremendous work on the mound by Tom Coleman early and Eganaczyk late, delivered this historic victory.
It was 12 minutes after 11 p.m. when Egnaczyk struck out Nate Ray with the bases loaded to end the game , and within seconds F-M players were in a pile near the mound, capping the most unforgettable week in program history.
B’ville had beaten F-M each of the three times they had played in the regular season. And that included a 12-2 decision May 1 on this same OCC turf where Savacool had pitched five shutout innings, striking out 10.
But that was before F-M, from the no. 7 seed in a seven-team sectional playoff field, knocked off no. 2 seed West Genesee and no. 3 seed Cicero-North Syracuse to reach the title game and earned a fourth opportunity to knock off the top-seeded Bees.
When Mitchell Seabury singled on the game’s first pitch, he matched the hit total F-M got off Savacool a month ago, an immediate indication that this night would be special.
A throwing error, plus a hit batsman, loaded the bases with nobody out. Sean Arthur drew a one-out walk to score Seabury. Then Seth Reisman singled, scoring Max Parker and Sean O’Connor, and another infield hit led to a James Egnaczyk sacrifice fly.
Reisman said that, to hit well against Savacool, he just would “see the ball, hit the ball and keep the hands back,” and it worked.
Coleman was staked to a four-run lead, but it was immediately cut in half in the bottom of the first when, with two out and two on, Jeb Farneth’s fly ball went untouched in center field, scoring Savacool and Nate Ray.
Both teams settled down, Reisman snuffing out a possible threat in the bottom of the third when he threw out Savacool trying to steal second as Ray struck out while Savacool got better on the mound as the night went on, F-M rarely getting close to earning another run.
Coleman cruised until the bottom of the sixth, when Pat May beat out a bunt single and Savacool walked. Reisman threw out May trying to steal third, but Ray and Jake Marshall beat out infield hits to load the bases.
It was here that Egnaczyk went to the mound. Just as he did in extra innings during the sectional quarterfinal against West Genesee,, Egnaczyk displayed his poise, fighting through a long at-bat to strike out Farneth, then got Pat Anson to fly out to right.
Still, it wasn’t over. With two out in the bottom of the seventh, Lucas Robinson singled, May walked on a 3-2 pitch and Savacool laid down a bunt single, loading the bases again.
Ray was up, and he worked the count to 2 and 2, fouling off two pitches. Then Egnaczyk made Ray look at strike three, and it brought a long-awaited baseball championship to F-M.
Coleman said that breaking the Hornets’ title drought was similar to what the Boston Red Sox and Chicago Cubs went through before they won recent World Series titles. But Reisman didn’t need any historical analogies.
“Words can’t describe it,” he said. “It’s just amazing.”
