All of the work that the Baldwinsville boys golf team had done through the spring and summer would come down to an eight-day stretch of big contests on familiar grounds.
First for the Bees, there were the home matches against Cicero-North Syracuse Blue and Fayetteville-Manlius that would help determine who won the Salt City Athletic Conference Metro division regular-season title.
Then, on Tuesday, the Section III fall tournament would take place at Radisson Greens, with B’ville hoping that its familiarity with the course would translate to a team title similar to the one it earned in 2016.
It all got going last Monday, when C-NS Blue visited. Though the Northstars were 8-2 and in first place, B’ville, led by Max Dec and Anthony Petragnani, beat them 191-202.
Dec and Petragnani both shot 36 for nine holes, matching par and topping the low C-NS Blue round of 38 from Andrew Brunozzi. Then Aidan Farmer shot 39 to match that of the Northstars’ Ryan Sisco, and Evan Pavetto-Stewart added a 40.
Rain pushed the match between B’ville and F-M until Thursday afternoon. By then, they were both 8-2, and knew that this showdown might decide the outright league title.
Having prevailed 195-198 when it first met F-M Aug. 31 at Woodcrest, B’ville expected an even better effort back home at Timber Banks – but it could not quite pull it off as it lost, 200-204, to the Hornets.
Shooting a 36, Dec got individual honors, and Shipman added a 38, totals that two F-M golfers, Adam Butch and Matt LaCombe, would match.
Where the Hornets went in front was with twin totals of 40 from Velton Perry and Mike Millimaci, ahead of the 42 from B’ville’s Vic Ianno as Petragnani and Billy Guild both shot 43, but Sean Arthur clinched it for the Hornets with a 44.
B’ville did bounce back Friday to beat C-NS’s Green team 194-208 as Dec shot a 33 at Timber Banks, five ahead of the Northstars’ Brody Kennedy. Tanner Glavin and Ryan Conley each posted 40, with Farmer getting 42 and Matt Shipman a 44.
So the Bees and C-NS Blue both finished 9-3 in the league, while F-M, at 9-2, had to beat Syracuse Monday to lock up regular-season league honors before they teed it up in the sectional tournament.
