If the Baldwinsville baseball team really wanted to make 2017 special, it needed to do well in each of its three scheduled series against CNY Counties League foes, especially the one against Syracuse.
Rain and weather kept the Bees from facing Syracuse until last Wednesday afternoon, where B’ville could not prevent the visitors from snatching the opening game by a 6-3 margin.
Cameron Morrissey pitched and kept it 0-0 until the fourth inning, when Syracuse struck for a pair of runs and added two more in the fifth after B’ville tied it in the bottom of the fourth, forcing the Bees to use Ryan Carson in relief.
Combined, Morrissey and Carson gave up just four hits, but walked five and were hurt by three errors. Pat Burke, with three RBIs, and Adam Douglas, with two RBIs, led the Syracuse attack as, for the Bees, Zach Bush, Cam Williams and Frank Levanti had two hits apiece, with Williams and David Cerqua driving in runs.
Looking to recover on Thursday afternoon, B”ville faced Syracuse again, and pushed it past regulation, only to take a 4-2, nine-inning defeat, a frustrating effort given the way James Savacool pitched that day.
Savacool surrendered a run in the top of the third, but then kept Syracuse off the board for the rest of regulation, staying patient until the Bees, in the bottom of the seventh, pushed across the tying run.
They were still 1-1 when, in the top of the ninth, Savacool finally tired, and Syracuse pounced on him and reliever Carson Hayes for three runs to take a 4-1 lead. All the Bees could do was score once in the bottom of the ninth against Darien Olivo, whose 2 2/3 inning stint of relief produced a win after a solid start from Anthony Cangemi.
All told, the Bees managed just four hits, two of them by Hayes, while Anthony M ay walked twice, scored a run and was credited with an RBI. Bush scored the other B’ville run.
The other Syracuse game will get made up later this season as B’ville now looked ahead (weather permitting) to three games this week against West Genesee before closing the regular season with a series against Liverpool.
