With just a 6-6 regular-season record, the Baldwinsville boys bowling team did not generate much attention going into Sunday’s Section III championships at Utica’s Pin-O-Rama – which only made the Bees’ performance in this high-pressure situation that much better.
And by the time six games were in the books, the Bees were sectional Division I champions, led by individual medalist Tanner Rozyczko and sixth-place Dylan Williams, but getting plenty of help from the rest of the roster as B’ville secured a berth in next month’s state tournament at Strike-N-Spare Lanes.
At the outset, the Bees jumped into contention with a first-game pinfall of 1,083, and the only reason it was in second place was because Oswego (1,124) had Eric Carson bowl the day’s lone perfect 300 game.
But in the second game, as the Buccaneers fell to 921, B’ville improved to 1,107 and took the lead for good, adding a 1,091 in the third game to end the morning session 145 pins ahead of second-place Whitesboro.
Opening the afternoon session, the Bees stayed in front with a 1,042 in the fourth game. A fifth-game 892 brought a brief lull, but B’ville still had a big margin over Liverpool, the undefeated SCAC Metro division regular-season champions.
Staying cool and poised, B’ville delivered a 1,080 final game to clinch it as, with its total pinfall of 6,294, it was 250 pins clear of Oswego (6,044), who climbed into second as Liverpool setttled for third place with 2,970.
So much of it had to do with Rozyczko, who began well enough with a 247 but then really stepped it up with a 10-strike 278 in his second game and a 256 third game to earn a 781 series in the morning.
After a fourth-game 239, Rozyczko had his lone bad game, a 184 in the fifth, but he finished with 246, and his six-game 1,450 was 25 pins ahead of Central Square’s Dimitri Queior, who had a 1,423 series with every game between 207 and 266. Rozyczko averaged 241.67 to Queior’s 237.17.
Williams didn’t quite reach Rozyczko’s level, but his 226, 244 and 222 in the morning session produced a 692 series and was followed by games of 181 and 177 before his closing 246 helped clinch the Bees’ title and gave Williams an overall pinfall of 1,296.
Eric Hildreth, Dylan Love and Zach Evans all finished close to each other, with Hildreth getting a 222 in his fourth game as part of a steady 1,189 series. Love opened with a 235, had a morning series of 640 and an overall total of 1,189 as Evans had a 225, never shot lower than 179 and finished with an overall total of 1,170.
Three other Bees bowlers – Dawson Bigtree, Hunter Garrett and Luke Marketta – took part as alternates, ready to go if any of the top quintet needed a rest.
