ONONDAGA COUNTY – There are, perhaps, more memorable ways to break out as a high school sports star, but few of them exist.
Eighth-grade Bishop Ludden baseball pitcher Joe Dunham managed to throw a no-hitter in his first varsity start last Monday against Port Byron, and did even more as the Gaelic Knights beat the Panthers 2-0.
First, there was the pitching part. Dunham did not surrender a walk and, of the 21 outs he recorded, 14 of them were strikeouts. Port Byron only reached base on a pair of Ludden errors.
Brandon Reife, the Panthers’ starting pitcher, was just as good for five innings. But in the top of the sixth and two runners on, Dunham doubled to score Greg Purdy and Patrick Towsley for the game’s only runs.
This followed Ludden’s 15-0 defeat to Westhill on May 1, one of two early-season defeats, and the Gaelic Knights got more heroics from the Dunham brothers in Thursday’s 5-4 win over Bishop Grimes.
Entering the bottom of the seventh, Ludden trailed the Cobras 4-1, but finally got to Grimes starter Seth Murphy with a pair of runs, leading to Joe Dunham’s clutch single that plated the tying and winning runs.
Getting his turn on the mound, Peter Dunham struggled early, but contained the Cobras in the late innings, ulitmately striking out seven against five hits allowed. Andrew Pullano scored a pair of runs.
West Genesee rebounded from a tough 2-1 opening defeat to Baldwinsville by going to Liverpool last Thursday and handing the Warriors its first defeat of the season, prevailing 5-3.
A 1-0 deficit quickly vanished when the Wildcats got three runs in the top of the second. After Liverpool cut the deficit to 3-2, WG scored twice in the sixth, which proved decisive.
Nick Jessen not only pitched 5 1/3 innings to get the win, he got two hits, as did Ryan Klementowski, who worked 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief. Jacob DePalma added a pair of hits as he, along with Aidan Leaf, earned RBIs.
With what it hoped was a chance to avenge that defeat to B’ville last Friday, the Wildcats and Bees went through seven innings at 0-0, only to have the game halted by rain.
Jordan-Elbridge got on the field last Tuesday afternoon, taking on Hannibal, and found some early success, but could not sustain it as it lost 9-3 to the Warriors.
The Eagles scored once in the first inning and twice in the top of the second as Keegan Ferris, Jacob Lawless and Caleb Rouse drove in those runs and J-E held a 3-1 advantage.
But Hannibal went ahead for good with four runs in the bottom of the second, then pulled further away. Ferris took the loss, with Caspian Phillips pitching in relief as the Warriors’ Jack Smith got two RBIs and scored three runs.
J-E turned it around on Thursday, winning the rematch with Hannibal 14-5 as it scored twice in the first inning and four times in the second and third innings to gain early control.
Jordan Kuhn and Cameron Prior each drove in three runs as Lawless scored four times while matching Ferris with two RBIs apiece. Lawless also pitched five innings to earn the win, with Hayden Curfman tossing two innings of scoreless relief.
