At last, the big snow piles were cleared out and the fields were dry enough for area high school baseball to get underway, a week later than anticipated.
Still, it didn’t bother most of the local teams, who won their openers early last week, starting with Bishop Ludden fending off Bishop Grimes in a 4-3 decision at Onondaga Community College.
Zach Cadden’s two hits and pair of RBIs helped the Gaelic Knights establish a 4-0 lead on Grimes as Tom Westers was busy working on a shutout, earning 13 strikeouts overall while also driving in a run.
But Westers nearly surrendered that lead as the Cobras rallied in the top of the seventh, netting three runs to pull within one before Westers was able to record the final out, having only allowed five hits overall. David House contributed an RBI.
A day later, Ludden’s neighbors both won, too, as Solvay handled Hannibal 14-4 and Westhill put away Chittenango
With a six-run first-inning outburst, Solvay took immediate control against Hannibal, managing just eight hits, but taking advantage of 18 walks as McKyle Sands earned three RBIs, with Connor Lee and Owen Lansing each driving in two runs. Blaine Franklin added two hits as he and Jordan Goldman both scored twice.
Westhill starting pitcher Ben Coates allowed a first-inning run to Chittenango, but he and reliever Nate King (who went 3 1/3 innings) blanked the Bears the rest of the way, combining for 10 strikeouts to overcome nine walks.
Though it only got four hits overall, the Warriors broke a 1-1 tie with four runs in the fourth inning, E.J. Zawadzki scoring three times after getting walked. Adam Herne drove in two runs, with Kevin Dwyer and Dante Furco each getting one RBI.
Solvay lost Wednesday to Skaneateles 12-4, managing two-run rallies in the second and third innings, yet still trailing 6-4 before the Lakers got away with six total runs in the fifth and sixth innings.
The Bearcats managed just three hits against the Skaneateles pitching trio of Josh McCabe, Jacob Nesbitt and Tommy Reed. Sands took the loss, getting seven strikeouts, but surrendering 10 hits and nine walks.
Meanwhile, Bishop Ludden absorbed a 12-8 defeat to Pulaski, seeing a 4-3 lead disappear when the Blue Devils scored four runs in the top of the fifth, adding five more runs in the late stages. Nico Santone and Ian Tills both had two RBIs for the Gaelic Knights.
On Friday, Ludden dropped an 8-4 decision to Cato-Meridian when the Blue Devils scored five times in the fifth and sixth innings to break a 3-3 tie.
