A season-long effort that brought the Skaneateles baseball team to the brink of the Section III Class B championship got derailed in the course of a single half-inning.
With pitching ace Cregg Scherrer surrendering five runs to Oneida in the top of the first inning of Monday’s sectional final at Onondaga Community College, the Lakers fell into a hole from which it could not recover, ultimately taking a 7-2 defeat to the Indians.
Despite its no. 8 seed, Oneida was a high-quality team with a 16-5 record mostly built against tough foes in the Tri-Valley League. The Indians had knocked out defending sectional champion Solvay and no. 1 seed Watertown IHC before a 13-1 semifinal rout of South Jefferson.
James Dick pitched for Oneida, but made an impact before he even took the mound. Following a walk, botched pickoff throw and groundout, Dick blooped a single to right that scored the game’s first run.
But that only started a big first inning for the Indians. Cregg Scherrer loaded the bases and, with two out, Tucker Rodgers cleared them with a three-run double.
“In a sectional game, it usually comes down to a big hit,” said Skaneateles head coach Tom Warner. “Unfortunately for us, (Tucker) got that hit.”
Zach LaQuay followed with an RBI single that scored Rodgers, and it was 5-0 before Skaneateles got an at-bat To his credit, Scherrer reclaimed his dominant form by striking out the side each of the next two innings, and now waited to see if he would get any help.
What was quickly apparent, though, was that Dick had total confidence – partly due to his own pitching skill, partly due to the big margin he was given. Dick retired the first nine Skaneateles batters he faced and worked quickly, rarely taking more than a few seconds between deliveries.
“James threw a lot of strikes,” said Warner. “When you have a pitcher controlling the tempo, that makes it tough on hitters.”
Only once did the Lakers get on the board, in the bottom of the fourth. Josh McCabe earned the Lakers’ first hit, moved to third on a groundout and raced home when Adam Lupo’s two-out fly ball fell , untouched, into right field.
Lupo would score, too, on Cregg Scherrer’s RBI single to make it 5-2. Tommy Scherrer walked, but with a chance to inch Skaneateles even closer, pinch-hitter Nate Main grounded out.
Even as Scherrer ran his total to 13 strikeouts in the top of the sixth, the Indians extended its lead to 6-2 with two singles and an error on pinch-hitter Dan Myatt’s possible inning-ending groundout.
A 14th K for Scherrer in the top of the seventh was his last.. He exited, having only allowed four hits in 6 1/3 innings, but ultimately paying for that rough first inning as Oneida dded a run in the seventh on Ryan Chevier’s RBI double.
By contrast, Dick did not allow a hit in the last three innings, helping deliver a sectional title and ending the Lakers’ season with a 14-6 record.
Warner said the work of his sevens seniors, including Lupo, Main, Jake Reed, Matt Neumann, Kyler Viggiano, Jacob Dinello and Evan Goldman helped elevate the Sknaeateles program, the fact that McCabe, Cregg Scherrer and Tommy Scherrer return in 2018 could make the Lakers a title contender again.
