CENTRAL NEW YORK – Back on April 30, the Cazenovia baseball team opened its season against Bishop Ludden and led all the way during a 6-2 victory over the Gaelic Knights.
A two-run first inning, plus a run in the third, pushed the Lakers out in front. Ludden scored twice in the bottom of the fifth, but Cazenovia countered with a three-run sixth innings to get away for good.
Jack Byrnes pitched and went 4 1/3 innings before his struggles in the fifth brought in reliever Jack Donlin. All that Donlin did was blank Ludden in his 2 2/3 innings and strike out six.
At the plate, Patrick Linck had a hit and scored twice, with Byrnes and Donlin each getting one RBI. All told, the Lakers had just five hits, but took advantage of eight Gaelic Knights errors.
Due to weather and postponements, nearly a week passed before the Lakers took the field again, and here the result was different as Cazenovia fell to Christian Brothers Academy 10-2.
In a game moved from Cazenovia to CBA’s home diamond due to field conditions, run-scoring hits from Byrnes and Donlin gave the Lakers a 2-0 edge in the top of the third inning.
That didn’t last, though, as the Brothers countered with three runs in the bottom of the third and then broke it open with a six-run sixth inning. Louie Percival led CBA with three RBIs as Byrnes, Donlin, Linck and Max DiGiacomo each saw pitching stints for the Lakers.
Cazenovia made a nice reccovery in Saturday’s game against Bishop Grimes, where Donlin, helped by plenty of early production (including his own), pitched a gem in the Lakers’ 8-1 win over the Cobras.
Going all seven innings, Donlin limited Grimes to four hits and only surrendered a single walk, and also contributed two doubles and two RBIs as the Lakers got three runs in the first inning and four runs in the second.
Linck got three hits and scored three runs. Aeden Berson emerged to double twice and drive in a pair of runs, with A.J. Rothfeld also getting a pair of RBIs. Byrnes and Sean Smithers had one RBI apiece/
Chittenango did not make its debut until last Thursday, but took full advantage of it as the Bears picked up a 14-5 victory over the Mexico Tigers, ahead of a game this week against Cazenovia.
