Having both established themselves as Section III Class A title contenders again, it was time for the Jamesville-DeWitt and East Syracuse Minoa baseball teams to engage in their head-to-head series.
Twice, the two neighbors would square off early in the week, starting with last Monday’s game where the Red Rams used two big rallies and fabulous pitching from A.J. Ortega and Carter Kowalczyk to beat the Spartans 7-1.
It was still 0-0 when, in the bottom of the third inning, J-D got to ESM starter Ricky Neuser, scoring three times. Jacob Buell countered with a run-scoring hit in the top of the fifth.
But J-D’s 3-1 lead more than doubled when it tacked on four runs in the sixth off Neuser and Josh Gilkey. The big blow was Scottie O’Bryan’s home run as he finished with four RBIs, with Nolan Giblin tripling and driving in two runs. Zach Goodson had the other RBI.
Meanwhile, those late runs gave Kowalczyk more protection as, in 2 1/3 innings of relief, he contained ESM’s batters, limiting them to three hits, the same total the Spartans managed against Ortega in 4 2/3 innings.
In the rematch at ESM 24 hours later, it was the Spartans’ turn to break out at the plate, doing all of its damage by the fourth inning on the way to beating J-D 10-5.
With a three-run rally in the second inning, ESM went in front for good, but in the bottom of the fourth it batted around, netting six runs to make it 9-1, too much for the Rams to overcome.
Nolan Penoyer doubled, walked, stole a base and scored twice, getting a pair of RBIs. Sam Jenkins and Ryan Seburn drove in two runs apiece as Jimmy Griffin added an RBI. Colin Williams and Justin Kingsley each scored twice.
Tanner Waldman gave up just one run in his first five innings on the mound, and finished it off even when J-D rallied late. O’Bryan, one of four Rams pitchers, took the loss as Nick Brotzki still had three hits, with Giblin adding two hits as Parker Wing, Jake Toscano and Murphy Foss each got an RBI.
Now they went on separate paths, at least until a possible Section III Class A playoff matchup, and both of them earned valuable wins in late in the week.
ESM’s big prize was knocking off its neighbors from Fayetteville-Manlius 13-7 on Thursday afternoon. Trailing 3-1, the Spartans tied it in the third and then amassed 10 runs in the fourth through sixth innings, helped by the Hornets committing eight errors.
Griffin scored three times for ESM as Williams got two runs scored to go with his pair of hits. Kingsley also had two hits as Penoyer and Lucas Grabowski each got a pair of RBIs. Jenkins and Gilkey also drove in runs as F-M’s Seth Reisman and Peter Miller got two RBIs to lead that effort.
Meanwhile, J-D prevailed 4-2 at Oswego, but it required extra innings and a comeback. The Buccaneers scored twice in the fourth to erase the Rams’ 1-0 lead.
But J-D quickly pulled back even in the fifth and then, in the top of the eighth, scored twice to break the 2-2 tie and reward Kowalczyk for his 3 2/3 innings of scoreless relief after replacing Brotzki. Goodson drove in two runs, with Mateo Santos adding an RBI.
A tougher game loomed on Friday, at Fulton, but J-D won here, too, holding off the Red Raiders 10-8 after jumping out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning and adding four more runs in the sixth.
Down 10-3, Fulton almost caught up, with five runs in the sixth, but the Rams got strong relief pitching from Jake Ellithorpe after Ortega pitched 4 2/3 innings. At the plate, Giblin and Wing both earned three hits, with Brotzki getting three RBIs as he, along with O’Bryan and Goodson, had two hits apiece.
