The quest for the East Syracuse Minoa baseball team was just to restore its early-season magic, and one swing of the bat by Nick Castrello helped in that cause during last Monday’s 5-2 victory over Oswego that started a long, busy and tumultuous week for the Spartans.
For three innings, the Spartans hadn’t figured out Buccaneers pitcher Joe Wallace. Then, in the bottom of the fourth, trailing 1-0 and with two on base, ESM sent Castrello to the plate – and he belted a Wallace offering over the fence for a three-run home run.
ESM tacked on insurance runs against Wallace and reliever Mike Bruce in the next two innings, but had enough thanks to the pitching of Shane Krawec, who tossed a complete game, holding the Bucs to four hits and two walks while striking out eight. Jimmy Griffin had three hits for the Spartans as he and Jeff Loder both scored twice.
Having clinched a winning record by improving to 11-6, ESM went after more at Chittenango on Wednesday, but instead saw its pitching get lit up by a hungry Bears lineup that belied its 6-11 record and stunned the Spartans 15-10.
With a 6-4 lead, ESM could not hold on to it, Chittenango erupting for nine runs in the fifth inning as Seamus St. Leger, who had a home run and four RBIs, led the charge. The Spartans got a double and three RBIs from Sam Jenkins as Dan Williams had three hits, joining Griffin, Castrello and James DePaul in driving in runs.
A 6-4 defeat to Bishop Grimes made things worse for the Spartans, but it somehow recovered on Friday to survive a 7-6, nine-inning epic with Central Square, where ESM surrendered a 4-1 lead late in regulation when the Redhawks netted two runs in the fifth and another run in the bottom of the seventh.
In the top of the eighth, the Spartans reclaimed the lead, 6-4, but Central Square pulled even again with its own two-run rally in the bottom of the eighth. Still, the Spartans persevered and, after putting across a run in the ninth, registered the final three outs.
Accumulating 15 hits, ESM saw Dan Williams get three of those hits, scoring twice. Castrello had a double, single and two RBIs, with Zach Grevelding and Colin Williams earning one RBI apiece.
In Tuesday’s opening round of the Section III Class A playoffs, the no. 7 seed Spartans hosts no. 10 seed Camden, knowing a win could get them a quarterfinal against no. 2 seed Jamesville-DeWitt, who enters the playoffs on a 14-game win streak and meets no. 15 seed Phoenix in the opening round.
