All through its 5-0 start, the West Genesee baseball team understood that things would get a lot tougher once it started playing three-game series, one each week, against its SCAC Metro division rivals.
First up was Cicero-North Syracuse, who were 5-1 following a trip to Myrtle Beach, but found it had no answer for junior right-hander Ryan Paige, who helped pitch the Wildcats past the Northstars 2-1 in last Monday’s series opener in Camillus.
WG immediately got a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning as Nick Chemotti doubled and eventually scored on Joe Comins’ sacrifice fly. C-NS got even in the top of the second, Cole Rockwell singling home Justin DelVecchio.
From there, Paige and DelVecchio traded zeroes for a while, working quickly as, twice, the Wildcats saw rallies killed by line drives that turned into double plays.
So it stayed 1-1 until the bottom of the fifth, when Jake DePalma doubled,m R.J. Murphy singled and, with nobody out, Luis Suarez’s grounder produced another double play – but brought DePalma home.
In the top of the sixth, C-NS nearly got Paige as Nate Geloff drew the game’s only walk, went to second on an error and was on third following a flyout.
But Nick Wieczorek’s shallow fly ball could not bring DelVecchio home, and Connor Gonzalski grounded out before Paige struck out the side in the top of the seventh, giving him 10 strikeouts for the afternoon against just three hits allowed.
A day later, at the Gillette Road complex, the second game nearly mirrored the first, with WG scoring in the first inning and C-NS tying it in the second before the Wildcats took a 2-1 lead in the fifth.
Here, though, the path diverted, with the Northstars tying it once more late in the game. And it stayed 2-2 until rains halted the contest, leaving it to finish this Wednesday afternoon.
It was dry last Thursday for the second full game between West Genesee and C-NS, and in this one the Wildcats again kept the Northstars’ bats relatively quiet, earning a 4-1 victory.
Nick Jessen pitched for WG, and after giving up a first-inning run when Drew Bristow doubled and scored on DelVecchio’s single, Jessen blanked C-NS the rest of the way, overcoming six hit and two walks by constantly getting out of trouble
Patient at the plate, the Wildcats pulled even, 1-1, in the third, and scored twice off C-NS starter Noah Wieczorek in the bottom of the fourth, adding an insurance run in the fifth.
DePalma and Tyler Kensey led the WG hitters, getting two hits apiece as DePalma, Paige and Chris Bonacci earned one RBI apiece.
So the Wildcats would enter another series on Monday at NBT Bank Stadium, this one against Liverpool, before its long-awaited series against Baldwinsville next week as the 2018 sectional Class AA finalists reunite.
