While it already knew just how good a group of players it had in its top ranks, the Baldwinsville boys golf team got a better idea of just how well they could do when it all clicked.
The Bees met Syracuse City last Tuesday afternoon, and while winning that match was not a surprise, the fact that it averaged an under-par score made the 174-214 victory quite memorable.
Perhaps it helped that the match took place at Drumlins, the same course where B’ville won an invitational tournament Aug. 27 with all of the area large-school teams gathered.
Collectively, the top five B’ville players shot six under par, though it was Anthony Petragnani who led the way, posting a four-under-par 32 for nine holes, his best career total.
Max Dec had a 33 of his own, while Matt Shipman broke par, too, earning a 35 as Tanner Glavin and Billy Guild, each shooting 37, matched the total of Syracuse’s low round shot by Jon Kinane. Liam Murphy got a 41 for Syracuse.
But if B’ville wanted to get to the top of the Salt City Athletic Conference Metro division standings, it would need a win over West Genesee on Thursday afternoon.
WG had prevailed 195-200 when these sides met at Westvale Aug. 24, but three days later the Bees held off the Wildcats for the top spot in the Drumlins Invitational.
Now the Wildcats were 5-1, but had just taken its first defeat of the season to Fayetteville-Manlius 24 hours earlier, and it didn’t find any relief at Timber Banks as B’ville prevailed 191-202 to claim a regular-season split.
Two battles went on at the same time. The individual contest between Dec and WG’s Nick Bove proved a classic, with each shooting four-under-par 32.
Yet the Bees’ depth made the difference as Petragnani, with a 38, and Ianno, with a 39, beat out the Wildcats’ Lucius Allen (40) for the third and fourth spots.
Once in front, B’ville stayed there thanks to rounds of 41 by Alex Pompo and Aiden Farmer, ahead of WG’s Tim Dipaola and Jacob Weaver (43 each). Shipman finished with a 44.
This pushed the Bees (6-2) ahead of the Wildcats (5-2) into second place behind F-M as those sides clash next Friday at Timber Banks after B’ville faces Cicero-North Syracuse Green earlier in the week.
