ONONDAGA COUNTY – Though from a technical standpoint the Skaneateles baseball team is defending the Section III Class B championship, much of the roster is different from when it claimed that title in 2019.
Despite this turnover, the Lakers turned aside two main rivals in two very different ways during its first games of the 2021 season.
Against Marcellus on May 1, Skaneateles pulled out a wild 15-10 decision when its bats erupted in the top of the seventh inning, plating 11 runs.
This completed a comeback from an 8-1 lead the Mustangs had built through four innings, mostly on the power of Adam Sullivan, who hit two home runs, and James Scherer, who also went deep, the pair ultimately combining for eight RBIs as Ryan Worden added three hits.
Trey Michel, with four RBIs and three runs scored, led the Lakers’ comeback. Nate Shattuck, Casey Kenan and Travis Loy drove in two runs apiece as Patrick Herr scored three times. Emil Sander and Joe Bruna each got one RBI.
It didn’t take long for the rematch, which was held last Tuesday at Skaneateles and spilled over into extra innings before Marcellus, with its own big outburst, prevailed 10-5 to salvage a season split.
Three different times, the Mustangs led (3-0 in the second, 4-3 in the third, 5-4 in the fifth), and every time the Lakers pulled back even, including a run in the bottom of the seventh.
So it went to extra frames 5-5, and after a scoreless eighth inning Marcellus got to Cooper Purdy for five runs in the top of the ninth after Purdy had relieved James Musso, who had gone 6 1/3 innings.
Sullivan finished with three hits and two runs scored. Scherer drove in a pair of runs as he, along with Worden, Jared Walters and Hunter Byrne, each got a pair of hits.
Aside from his contributions at the plate, Sullivan also pitched four innings of relief after John Francesconi started. Together, they gave up just six hits, with only Musso earning two hits for Skaneateles.
In between these games, the Lakers hosted Solvay last Monday afternoon, with Loy putting together a pitching gem that keyed a 4-1 Skaneateles victory over the Bearcats.
After Carter Lee drove in Antonio Gonzalez in the top of the first, Loy settled down and gave up just one hit in 5 2/3 innings, striking out eight before James Musso picked up the last four outs for the save.
Gonzalez pitched for the Bearcats and kept the game 1-1 until the Lakers put up a run in the fifth and two runs in the sixth to go in front for good. Musso singled, doubled and drove in a run as Michel and Herr both added an RBI.
And after the loss to Marcellus, Skaneateles quickly got back to winning form on Thursday, topping Homer 9-3 largely by breaking out to a 7-0 lead in the first two innings.
Michel set the tone, notching three hits as he and Herr both drove in two runs. Sander and Musso also had RBIs as Bryce Lincoln, staked to that early lead, pitched a complete game, striking out seven to overcome eight hits and two walks.
As for the Mustangs, it continued to put up big run totals against Solvay on Thursday, and needed to do so in order to come from behind and edge the Bearcats 11-10.
The wild final sequence saw Marcellus, down 4-2, take the lead with four runs in the bottom of the fifth, only to have Solvay bat around in the top of the sixth while putting together a six-run rally.
Now trailing 10-6, the Mustangs scored three times in the bottom of the sixth to pull back within one, setting up a seventh-inning rally where it netted the tying and winning runs.
Scherer and Adam Sullivan both hit home runs for Marcellus as Sullivan got three RBIs. Worden doubled, singled twice and drove in two runs as Zach Bowen led Solvay’s attack, driving in three runs.
