Having streaked to a 6-0 start and the no. 3 state Class A ranking, the Jamesville-DeWitt baseball team knew that opponents would bring plenty of energy and spirit to try and knock them off.
Auburn was the side that finally gave the Red Rams a blemish,the Maroons prevailing 7-2 last Monday in a game that nearly didn’t start due to a concern over field conditions at Auburn.
Once they were addressed, the game started, and the Maroons scored twice in the bottom of the second inning, only to have J-D tie it an inning later as Matt Alexander singled home Bobby Galusha and Zach Goodson scored on a wild pitch.
Auburn led for good, though, after a five-run fourth inning where Brendan Williams’ two-run single was the key blow. Williams also pitched, going 4 2/3 innings and only allowing two hits before Jacob Coleman tossed 2 1/3 innings of no-hit relief.
Humbled by this defeat, J-D turned around and salvaged a split of the two-game series with Auburn a day later on its home field, the Rams rolling past the Maroons 9-2.
Much of it had to do with the bottom of the second inning. Trailing 1-0, J-D then batted around against Maroons pitcher Jacob Sanders, finishing with seven runs in that frame, more than it would need.
Nolan Giblin and Nick Brotzki both doubled and drove in two runs. Goodson and Alexander had two hits apiece, Alexander scoring twice as Galusha and Mateo Santos each got one RBI.
A.J. Ortega got the start on the mound and lasted four innings, overcoming eight hits and constantly thwarting Auburn rallies, before Carter Kowalczyk tossed three scoreless innings of relief, striking out four.
East Syracuse Minoa, awaiting its games against J-D early this week, roared to life late in last Monday’s game at Fulton as it earned a 13-2 victory over the Red Raiders.
They were scoreless until the top of the fourth, when the Spartans struck for four runs, and then got away with a seven-run rally in the fifth inning, plus two more runs in the sixth. Josh Gilkey led the way, going four-for-five with three doubles and four RBIs.
Colin Williams tripled, doubled twice and drove in three runs, with Hunter Borkowski also getting three hits. Spencer Carnival had two hits and two RBIs as Dan Garris struck out nine in his five innings on the mound before Danny Sitnik relieved him.
The second game with Fulton 24 hours later was back home, but that didn’t prevent ESM from absorbing an 11-7 defeat to the Red Raiders.
Through five innings, the Spartans led 6-4, having seen Williams single, double and drive in two runs as Ben Leib, Brendan Seburn and Lucas Grabowski manage two hits apiece.
But Fulton scored three times in the sixth and, after ESM tied it again 7-7, won it with a four-run rally in the top of the seventh off Spencer Carnival, who had relieved Bryce Hall. Sam May led the Red Raiders with three RBIs.
Then it was ESM against its neighbors from Fayetteville-Manlius on Wednesday afternoon, a fund-raiser for cancer awareness that included a post-game fundraiser at Bull & Bear Pub for pediatric oncology patients.
As to the game itself, F-M won 12-5, led by Sean O’Connor’s four RBIs. Will Duncanson drove in three runs and Max Parker had two RBIs while scoring three times. Lucas Grabowski led the Spartans with three hits as Jacob Buell doubled twice.
Then the Hornets had back-to-back games against Syracuse, the first of them in Cooperstown on Thursday afternoon as the Hornets got a 10-0 victory. Parker, in 5 1/3 innings on the mound, held Syracuse to one hit and amassed 10 strikeouts.
Starting in the third inning, F-M got multiple runs in four consecutive frames, with Mitch Seabury’s home run the big blow as he earned four RBIs. Tom Coleman and Matt Vaccaro drove in two runs apiece and John Egnaczyk added an RBI.
The rematch on Friday between F-M and Syracuse ended in a 1-0, eight-inning defeat. John Arold pitched 6 2/3 scoreless innings and struck out eight, but Syracuse’s Connor Burke matched him and then drove home the winning run in the bottom of the eighth off Egnaczyk.
