Area high school baseball teams took separate paths during the April school break, some of them heading south and others staying close to home.
Two teams that didn’t travel were undefeated Jamesville-DeWitt and once-beaten Christian Brothers Academy, who on Thursday afternoon would square off against each other.
Moving to 6-0 on the season, the state Class A no. 3-ranked Red Rams patiently waited for its opportunity to take charge, and did so in the late stages with two big rallies to get a 10-3 victory over the state no. 14-ranked Brothers.
J-D scored in the first inning, and the two sides exchanged second-inning runs. So it was still 2-1 when, in the top of the fifth, the Rams put across three runs, and then decided matters with five runs an inning later.
Murphy Foss’s pair of hits led to four RBIs, with Mateo Santos driving in two runs. Nolan Giblin scored twice as he and Matt Alexander both had one RBI.
Though Steve Colangelo and Kent Wilson drove in runs for CBA, none of the Brothers could get much going against J-D pitcher A.J. Ortega, who in five innings only allowed one hit, overcoming five walks by striking out six before Carter Kowalczyk worked the last two innings in relief.
One day earlier, J-D had hosted Fulton and earned its fifth win in a row, handling the Red Raiders 8-1.
A pair of first-inning runs was all that J-D needed, but it pulled away with four runs in the bottom of the third and two more runs in the fourth as Nick Brotzki and Logan Wing both finished with a pair of RBIs.
Brotzki also pitched five innings, striking out seven and holding Fulton to two hits as Foss relieved him the rest of the way. Foss managed a pair of hits as he, along with Santos, Zach Goodson and Shane Wright, drove in one run apiece.
Meanwhile, CBA claimed a close decision against Mexico, rallying to win 6-5. The Tigers held a 5-2 lead until Wilson smashed a three-run home run in the bottom of the fifth. Then it broke out of that 5-5 tie with another run to move in front for good.
Meanwhile, Fayetteville-Manlius was in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and F-M got started there last Monday with a big fifth inning 14-0 shutout of Georgetown (Ontario).
Max Parker held Georgetown to one hit, and got rewarded when the Hornets unleashed 14 runs, four of them driven in by Mitch Seabury as he singled and doubled. John Egnaczyk drove in three runs as Sean O’Connor got two RBIs. Will Duncanson, Itai Spinoza and Sean Arthur also drove in runs.
Against West Forsyth (North Carolina) on Wednesday afternoon, F-M won again, 2-1, with runs in the first and third inning supporting Tom Coleman, who pitched five shutout innings, only allowing two hits.
Ital Spinoza relieved Coleman, and then Egnaczyk went the final 1 1/3 innings for the save. O’Connor had two of F-M’s three hits, gaining an RBI as Seabury had the other hit, joining Max Parker in the run-scoring column.
