ONONDAGA COUNTY – No matter the opponent or the format, the Christian Brothers Academy baseball team was cruising past its early-season foes, sweeping a doubleheader last Wednesday against Bishop Grimes and then prevailing in a different kind of twin bill later in thew eek.
The first game between CBA and Grimes went 6-1 in the Brothers’ favor all due to a six-run fourth inning where Mike Schaefer hit a two-run home run and Louie Percival drove home two other runs, Luke Boule struck out nine in his pitching effort.
Grimes had more runs in the second game, but CBA still won 8-3, building a 7-0 margin in the first three innings as Percival and Matt Boule both scored twice. Kodi Dotterer and Zach Mulhern had RBIs.
From there, CBA proceded to a Saturday twin bill where it would play at home against West Genesee and then, a few hours later, go on the road to face East Syracuse Minoa.
As it turned out, it was the Wildcats giving the Brothers its first defeat of the season by an 11-1 margin, going out in front with a three-run first inning and getting away with six runs in the top of the fifth.
Only a sixth-inning RBI from Jackson Marko driving home Matt Landau kept CBA from a shutout. For WG, Ryan Klementowski hit a home run and got three RBIs.
It proved far different at ESM, where the Brothers handled the Spartans 10-1 as it used three-run rallies in the third and fifth innings to break out of an early 1-1 tie.
Casey Vaughn pitched six innings and only allowed two hits, striking out 10. Schaefer’s single and triple led to three RBIs as Percival, Cody Miller and Will Harrigan got two hits apiece. Dotterer added an RBI.
Fayetteville-Manlius was on the brink of a big road win at West Genesee on Wednesday, only to get caught and overtaken late in a 4-3 defeat to the Wildcats.
Trailing 1-0, the Hornets tied it in the fourth inning and went up 3-1 in the top of the fifth as Chris Hoalcraft and Tom Woolridge each scored runs.
Itai Spinoza, who also scored a run, pitched well until he ran into his pitch-count limit in the bottom of the sixth and, with Woolridge relieving him, WG struck for three runs, two of them racing home on errors.
Still, the Hornets had a chance, getting the tying and go-ahead runs on base in the top of the seventh but unable to score off Wildcats reliever Dan Davis.
Just as painful was Thursday’s 7-5 loss to Liverpool where, led by Roberr Mason’s double, two singles and three RBIs, F-M led 5-0 through five innings.
But the Warriors used a five-run rally in the sixth off Max Danaher and Seth Bailey to tie it and then, in the top of the eighth, scored twice, a barrage that the Hornets were unable to answer.
Now F-M started at a doubleheader Saturday against Cicero-North Syracuse, winners of three in a row, and were swept by the Northstars, who won the first game 18-0 and the second game 13-5.
Meanwhile, Bishop Grimes recovered from the CBA sweep by beating Jordan-Elbridge 10-4 on Friday, with a three-run first inning followed by seven total runs in the fifth and sixth innings.
Seth Murphy, who pitched five innings before Caspian Phillips took over in relief, had three hits and scored three runs to pace Grimes, with Dominic Rossi getting a pair of RBIs.
