Something didn’t seem to fit last Thursday afternoon, for the Jordan-Elbridge baseball team had just three wins on its ledger, while its opponent, Skaneateles, had recorded five consecutive shutouts, yet it was the Eagles emerging with an impressive 7-1 victory.
Part of it was timing, for sure, since J-E didn’t have to face the Lakers’ imposing duo of brothers Cregg and Tommy Scherrer. And they pounced from the outset, Jordan Osborn setting the tone with a two-run single in the first inning, all that the Eagles would need.
Yet J-E added two more runs in the third and fourth innings, and Osborn only surrendered a single run in the bottom of the third on a botched pickoff attempt. Osborn finished with three hits, as did Dan Kuenhle, who scored twice.
J-E entered the week with a 2-8, but gave itself a boost before the Skaneateles encounter by prevailing 4-1 over Bishop Grimes last Tuesday afternoon.
Kuenhle was superb on the mound for the Eagles, going 5 1/3 innings and holding the Cobras to four hits before Carson Ashby worked 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief. Single runs in the first and third innings, plus two runs in the fifth, proved enough as Kuehnle and Ashby drove in runs, as did Osborn and Zach Fabrize.
Then, after cooling off Skaneateles, J-E kept on going with an 11-2 win over Marcellus Friday afternoon where all 11 runs were scored in a third-inning outburst where the Eagles nearly went around the batting order twice.
Ashby had three RBIs during that deluge, with Kuehnle, Fabrize, Osborn, Jonah Patrick, Geoff Lippa, Tristan Ashby and Joe Reagan all driving in runs, too. Carson Ashby pitched a complete game, limiting the Mustangs to four hits and a pair of fifth-inning runs scored by John Houser and Matt Spicer.
Marcellus returned last Tuesday and got shut out, 10-0, by Pulaski as Blue Devils pitcher Tom Brodeur threw a complete game and held the Mustangs to two hits, by Jake Schettine and Ben McFall. Meanwhile, Schettine pitched for Marcellus and, silenced Pulaski until the sixth, when the Blue Devils erupted for eight runs and got away.
A 3-2 defeat to Cazenovia followed on Wednesday as the Mustangs fell behind, 2-0, in the fourth inning, but tied it in the top of the sixth as John Houser and Ethan Molinari drove in those runs.
Ben McFall pitched, and striking out four, he kept it 2-2 until the Lakers scored the winning run with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. Cazenovia pitcher Matt Regan held Marcellus to two hits and earned 12 strikeouts.
On Thursday, Marcellus rebounded with a 10-6 victory over Chittenango, blowing a 4-0 lead when the Bears scored five runs in the bottom of the third, but going back in front with two runs in the top of the fourth.
Still, it took a four-run seventh inning to secure the Mustangs’ winning margin as Schettine went four-for-four at the plate, scoring twice. McFall, Houser, Spicer and Sam Grattan also scored twice as Houser pitched five innings to earn the win before Molinari’s two-inning relief stint.
