Unlike some other sides who were waiting until the late-April school break to travel south, the Baldwinsville baseball team did so late in March, when snow still blanketed most of the fields.
With a week spent at the Disney Wide World of Sports complex in Florida, the Bees were far more prepared for the start of the season than some of its counterparts, but still had to stay patient as the snows melted.
Finally, things were relatively clear to get the season-opening series against Cicero-North Syracuse underway last Wednesday afternoon. And with clutch pitching from Jason Savocool, B’ville defeated the Northstars 1-0.
Savocool and C-NS counterpart Jared Lonergan kept the game 0-0 through the first three innings. The Northstars would constantly put runners on base, and each time Savocool left them stranded.
Ultimately Savocool would surrender five hits and three walks, but amass 12 strikeouts, and got the help he needed when, in the fourth inning, Pat May’s single scored Matt Mercurio.
May picked up two hits overall, with hits also going to Mercurio, Frank Levanti, Nate Ray and Lucas Robinson. As for Savocool, he endured until the seventh, when with two out Casey Collins relieved Savocool and earned the final out for the save.
These two sides met again on Friday at North Syracuse Junior High School. Again, it was close – and again, B’ville prevailed, prevailing 6-5 over C-NS in eight innings.
A three-run first inning held up until the Northstars scored four times in the bottom of the third to go in front. The Bees got back in front with single runs in the fifth and sixth innings, only to have C-NS pull back even 5-5 in the bottom of the sixth.
However, B’ville did get to Northstars reliever Mason White for a run in the top of the eighth, and Jacob Marshall, pitching his third inning of relief, got the last three outs.
Prior to that, Jack Andres went five innings, striking out eight while allowing six hits and two walks. At the plate, Mercurio and Cam Williams each got three hits, with Williams getting two RBIs and May a double and RBI as Robinson added a pair of hits.
