It didn’t matter much that the Cazenovia baseball team sported a 2-4 record, or that it was playing on the road last Monday against a Solvay side that once stood at no. 3 in the state Class B rankings.
For when the long, cold, wet afternoon was done, the Lakers had a valuable 12-8 victory over the Bearcats in the books and a chance to build up more momentum in May.
Not wasting any time, Cazenovia struck for three runs in the first inning and two runs in the second for a 5-1 advantage. Then it withstood Solvay’s comeback and, clinging to a 6-5 edge, pulled away for good with five runs in the top of the fifth.
Dominic Paglia had three of the Lakers’ nine hits, including a double. Dylan McCrink also doubled as he and Paglia had two RBIs apiece. Patrick Linck had two hits, walked twice and scored four runs as Jack Byrnes added two walks and an RBI.
McCrink and Aeden Berson split the pitching duties, Berson going four innings to earn the win as he and McCrink combined for seven strikeouts.
After that, things were quiet for the Lakers until Saturday, when it would face its neighbors from Chittenango. And though Cazenovia piled up 14 hits, it was the Bears who won it by a narrow 9-8 margin.
A busy first inning saw Chittenango score twice and Cazenovia answer with four runs. Then it was 5-2 when the Bears scored three times in the top of the third to tie it, only to have the Lakers pull back in front 6-5.
Another three-run rally in the fifth got Chittenango in front for good, but it still needed that extra run in the sixth inning as Cazenovia, down 9-6, scored twice in the bottom of the sixth.
Only when Maddox Garvey, pitching his third inning of relief after Nick Callahan started, got the final three outs in the seventh could the Bears celebrate.
Bryce Bishop and Aiden Cavotta both drove in two runs for Chittenango. Noah Schnauffer scored twice, with Tyrus Kelly, Devon Spaulding, Ronnie Ince and Carlos Torres getting one RBI apiece.
Cazenovia lost despite Dylan Anderson’s single, double and triple, with McCrink also getting three hits. Linck, Paglia and Tripp Clarke had two hits apiece as Clarke and Anderson both got a pair of RBIs.
It wasn’t the only close contest the Bears had last week. When Chittenango took on Marcellus last Tuesday afternoon, it proved a close one, but the Bears fell 3-2 to the Mustangs.
Other than surrendering a first-inning run, Spaulding contained the Marcellus lineup early, and the Bears helped him by scoring twice in the top of the fifth, Schnauffer and Garvey driving in Bishop and Tom McIntosh.
Yet that 2-1 lead didn’t hold, with the Mustangs getting to Spaulding in the bottom of the sixth with two decisive runs.
Nick Callahan relieved Spaulding, but the damage was done and Jack Flynn, relieving Hugh White, tossed as scoreless seventh inning to save it for Marcellus.
