It might serve as turning point, or nothing more than a season highlight.
However it is defined, the Cazenovia baseball team’s stunning seventh-inning comeback to rescue a 7-6 victory over the Bishop Ludden Gaelic Knights last Wednesday afternoon will long be remembered, especially by the winning side.
In its first game since returning from its spring-break trip to Myrtle Beach (pushed back 48 hours after last Monday’s rainout), the Lakers got into trouble right away as Ludden scored four runs in the top of the first inning off starting pitcher Matt Regan.
But Regan would settle down, only allowing four hits for the entire game –and as he did, Cazenovia climbed back with single tallies in the first, third and fifth innings. Still, when Ludden got a run in the fifth and another in the top of the seventh, the Lakers’ deficit grew to 6-3.
Just when it mattered, though, Cazenovia solved Gaelic Knights pitcher Ian Quinn, who had relieved Dan McGarvey in the fifth. The Lakers put up three runs in the bottom of the seventh and then won it when Quinn’s wild pitch allowed the decisive run to score.
Regan and Judson Spaulding led with two hits apiece, Spaulding scoring three of Cazenovia’s seven runs. Eric Ketcham drove in two runs, with Spaulding and Alex Marshall each adding an RBI.
Such a victory normally provides momentum – but for Cazenovia, it didn’t even last 24 hours as it went to Jordan-Elbridge Thursday and, this time, fell victim to an opponent’s comeback in a 7-5 loss to the Eagles.
Helped by two hits from Marshall and RBIs from Spaulding, Regan and Graham Demo, the Lakers erased an early 2-1 deficit and led, 5-2, going into the bottom of the fifth. Evan Begley couldn’t hold that lead, though, knocked out in the fifth as J-E scored three times to tie it and then added two runs in the sixth to move in front for good. Zach Pangaro led the Eagles with two hits and two RBIs.
In a non-league game Saturday against Oneida, the Lakers’ bats went quiet in a 3-1 defeat, managing just three hits against Indians pitcher Casey Rich, whose complete-game effort included plenty of strong defense behind him.
Demo had two of those three hits, with Begley getting the other as his sixth-inning single scored Noah Race with the team’s lone run. By then, Oneida had a 3-0 lead, having scored all of those runs off Marshall, who took the loss despite a solid five-inning effort. James Dick led the Indians with two hits and two RBIs.
Meanwhile, the Chittenango baseball team, just 2-7 going into May, had to work in between all the raindrops, but did get in last Tuesday’s game against Phoenix, where timely rallies and great pitching from Zane Cowburn produced a 6-1 victory over the Firebirds.
Cowburn allowed seven hits and one walk, but constantly escaped trouble thanks to terrific defense by the Bears, who did not commit an error. Chittenango quickly went in front with two runs in the first inning and then used a four-run rally in the bottom of the fourth to pull away.
The Bears had just five hits, but worked six walks and saw Matt Milliman and Wyatt Myers each drive in a pair of runs. Cowburn helped his own cause with a pair of hits and scored a run, with Milliman, Tom Valentine and Mike Culkin also crossing the plate.
It dried up again on Thursday for the Bears as it faced Homer and took a 13-3 defeat to the Trojans, who broke out of a 1-1 tie in the third inning and, up 6-1, put things away with a seven-run outburst in the top of the sixth.
Myers, Valentine and Culkin each drove in a run, but it was far from enough. Seamus St. Leger took the loss, with Tom Rooney roughed up in relief as Homer finished with 18 hits, four of them by Garrett Lewis, who scored three runs and drove in two others as Storm Grant produced a team-best three RBIs.
Rebounding quickly, Chittenango earned a 5-2 win over Canastota on Saturday, all of the runs coming in the fourth inning as Cowburn, Justin Gondeck and Zane Garvey each had an RBI in that rally. Rooney added two hits,
