Having taken a May 11 defeat to Skaneateles, the Westhill baseball team knew how important it was to regain its footing before it hit the Section III Class B playoffs.
The Warriors had no trouble in last Monday’s game at Phoenix, blanking the Firebirds 16-0 as John Geer pitched a five-inning no-hitter, giving up two walks but striking out five.
Westhill scored three times in each of the first two innings, added two runs in the third and eight runs in the fifth. Philip Zollo had three hits as Geer doubled twice, joining Ben Coates, Ryan Bennett, Adam Herne and Nate King in earning two RBIs apiece. Andrew O’Connor scored three runs.
Three days later, Westhill got another shutout, this one 10-0 over Jordan-Elbridge, who had played earlier in the week and lost a 9-1 decision to Homer.
Between them, O’Connor (three innings) and Zollo (two innings) gave up just two hits, to the Eagles’ Zach Fabrize and Jacob Lawless. At the plate, O’Connor tripled, doubled and got three RBIs as Geer also drove in three runs, with Zollo scoring three runs to go with two hits and two RBIs.
Westhill returned to action on Friday and handled Hannibal 13-2. While it wasn’t a shutout, a five-run second inning and six-run fourth inning helped bring about the mercy rule.
Geer and Coates held Hannibal to one hit as O’Connor doubled and drove in three runs. Geer and Corey Frassica had two RBIs apiece as Zollo scored three runs, with Bennett, Nate King and Brandon Crawford each scoring twice. Kevin Dwyer, Walker Blossey and Justin Bistrovich got credit for RBIs.
Back on Wednesday, Solvay met Altmar-Parish-Williamstown and took a 6-5 defeat to the Rebels.
A 2-0 lead vanished when APW struck for two runs in the fourth and fifth innings off Mason Sands. That set up a wild finish as Solvay, down 4-2, zoomed in front with three runs in the top of the seventh, only to have the Rebels tie and win it in the bottom of that frame.
Sands had two hits to help his own cause as he and Alex Gallardo both got a pair of RBIs. Robby Clark had two hits, scoring twice as Blaine Franklin and Jordan Goldman also scored runs.
Solvay had challenged Class B favorite Vernon-Verona-Sherrill on May 12, and were quite close in a 4-2 defeat, leading 1-0 until the Red Devils scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth and tacked on a run in the sixth.
But after the loss to APW, Solvay roared back on Thursday and took just five innings to finish off Chittenango 12-1, the big damage coming when it scored eight runs in the bottom of the fourth.
Goldman doubled, tripled and scored three times as Clark, Franklin and Zac Mashaw also had two-hit outings. Clark’s pair of hits led to three RBIs as Justin Rutkowski, Josh Florczyk and McKyle Sands also drove in runs.
Solvay lost on Friday, 2-1, to Mexico, all of the runs scored in the fifth inning. Josh O’Reilly’s two-run single broke up Sands’ shutout and, while Owen Lansing had an RBI in the bottom of the fifth, the Bearcats got nothing more against Tigers pitchers Logan Craig and Brandon Dutcher, who held them to six hits, two of them by Franklin.
Marcellus broke out of its skid last Monday by handling Altmar-Parish-Williamstown 10-1. Unlike in its May 9 game against CBA, this time when the Mustangs scored six times in the bottom of the second, that lead held up.
Jack Flynn held the Rebels to five hits and struck out seven in his complete-game pitching effort. He also had two hits and two runs scored, totals that Ryan Pierce matched to pace the offense.
The Mustangs lost 2-1 to Phoenix on Thursday, a game where Marcellus trailed 1-0 until the fifth, when Pierce scored his team’s lone run as Ben McFall was pitching quite well, on his way to a five-strikeout, zero-walk appearance.
But the Firebirds also scored in the fifth inning, though, and made it stick with pitching from Alex Sisera and James Lynch, who combined to hold the Mustangs to four hits overall. Aiden Shea had two of those hits, including a double.
On Friday, Marcellus took a 3-1 defeat to Homer, with Brayton Johnson scoring the team’s lone run as Shea, Matt Spicer and Jack Flynn had one hit apiece. Casey Hayes drove in two of the Trojans’ three runs.
The Section III Class B playoff bracket included 26 teams, but Westhill, as the no. 5 seed, would not have to worry about an opening game on Monday, unlike the other local sides.
Solvay, as the no. 14 seed, hosted no. 19 seed Utica-Notre Dame to see who faced no. 3 seed Skaneateles. Marcellus, with the no. 13 seed, hosted no. 20 seed Mexico as no. 23 seed J-E visited no. 10 seed Lowville.
