At times in the past, the fact that the Section III boys golf tournament for Salt City Athletic Conference Metro division teams often took place at nearby Radisson Greens benefited Baldwinsville in a big way.
Many of the Bees’ golfers had played rounds at Radisson, and that familiarity led to victories in this tournament, something B’ville looked to achieve again when Wednesday’s sectional tournament got underway.
But it didn’t quite happen. The Bees finished at 399, the same score as West Genesee, but both of them, along with SCAC Metro regular-season champion Fayetteville-Manlius (400), topped by Cicero-North Syracuse Blue, who won with 395.
B’ville went into the sectional tournament with as much confidence as possible thanks to victories in each of its last two regular-season matches.
Against F-M’s newly-constructed White team on Sept. 25 at Woodcrest, the Bees won 189-205, Billy Guild shooting an even-par 36 and Tanner Glavin was close behind, posting 37.
Back home at Timber Banks for last Monday’s regular-season finale, B’ville had to again rely on its deep lineup to defeat C-NS Blue 191-198.
This win was particularly satisfying because the Northstars had beaten the Bees Sept. 5 at Lakeshore Country Club, which ended up costing B’ville the SCAC Metro division regular-season title since it split with first-place F-M.
In the rematch with C-NS Blue, Alex Pompo went to the forefront, his one-over-par 37 supported by Anthony Petragnani and Victor Ianno, each of whom shot 38.
Guild and Aidan Farmer followed with rounds of 39, while Brendan Wilcox had a 43 and Glavin contributed a 44. C-NS Blue got a 38 from Sam Thompson, a 39 from Austin Alberici and Sean Lawler and a 40 from Ryan Sisco.
All of this was supposed to help the Bees’ confidence as it went to Radisson, but in cold, wet conditions that made the course play much longer than its listed 6,600-plus yards, scores were not going to be low.
Pompo had a four-over-par 76, leading B’ville’s individuals and tied for fourth place overall among all SCAC golfers, just four strokes behind Liverpool’s Dylan Husted, who took individual honors by shooting an even-par 72.
Farmer finished with a 79, just ahead of Glavin’s 80, while Petragnani and Nate MacGregor both finished at 82. Guild had an 84 as Brendan Wilcox shot an 86 ahead of the 87 from Ianno and a 91 from Trey Ordway.
C-NS Blue ultimately won because it had four players – Ryan Sisco (77), Jake Nardozza (78), D.J. Villnave and Sean Lawler (79 each) – break 80, with an 82 by Darin Townsend capping it off.
Since Pompo, Farmer, Glavin, Petragnani and MacGregor each shot 82 or lower, they all advanced to next May’s sectional state qualifying tournament at Seven Oaks in Hamilton.
