Though it took quite a while and required all kinds of reserve and resolve, the Baldwinsville baseball team managed to atone for its lone blemish of the 2021 season.
The Bees and Cicero-North Syracuse went to 12 innings on a warm Saturday afternoon at the Gillette Road complex before B’ville won it, 5-4, with two clutch hits and all kinds of strong relief pitching.
When they had first met May 12, C-NS had taken advantage of several Bees errors to win 10-2 on the way to accumulating eight wins in a row.
No one would get that far ahead in the rematch, even as Griffin Seeber and Kenny Svitak singled on the game’s first two pitches off Noah Wieczorek, leading to a first-inning run.
C-NS went in front with single runs in the first and third innings, only to have the Bees regain the lead in the fourth on Kai Girard’s two-run double. It would be far from Girard’s final contribution.
Svitak’s two-out RBI triple in the top of the sixth extended the margin to 4-2, but the Northstars used a walk, single, sacrifice bunt, balk and another single to put across the tying runs in the bottom of the sixth.
From there, though, Girard, B’ville’s second relief pitcher after Chris AuClair went the first five innings, would combine with Aiden Milburn to blank C-NS over the game’s last six innings.
In particular, what Girard did in the ninth was remarkable. Kevin Felasco’s leadoff triple and two walks loaded the bases with no one out, but Girard struck out Matt Klamm and got Corey Cartier to hit a hard grounder to third that resulted in a rare 5-2-3 double play.
Meanwhile, the Bees were not doing much against Chris D’Agostino, who relieved C-NS starter Noah Wieczorek and proceeded to pitch six-plus scoreless innings.
But with two out in the top of the 12th, Matt Carner doubled and, one pitch later, Luke Arvantides, the winning pitcher the day before against Rome Free Academy, singled to right, scoring Carner.
Milburn, who had replaced Girard in the 11th, struck out the side in the bottom of the 12th to end the game. B’ville and C-NS will meet once more next Saturday on the Bees’ home diamond.
Three games preceded the C-NS clash. Having won three times in its last at-bat, the Bees took a different approach in last Monday’s game at West Genesee, striking early and carrying it all the way to a 3-1 victory over the Wildcats.
B’ville got to WG pitcher Nick Jessen for three runs in the top of the first inning. Arvantides earned an RBI as Perry Chetney got the first of his three hits and, along with Svitak and Seeber, scored the runs.
The rest belonged to pitchers Girard and Milburn, who paired to hold the Wildcats to two hits, with Girard not allowing a hit in his three-inning relief stint and striking out five.
Against Fayetteville-Manlius on Wednesday, the Bees again found itself in a close contest and, again, was able to pull it out, holding off the Hornets 5-4.
Three runs in the bottom of the third inning got B’ville in front. F-M countered and tied it, 3-3, in the top of the fourth to tie it, 3-3, only to have the Bees regain the lead with a run in the bottom of the fourth.
As it turned out, a fifth-inning tally made the difference as the Hornets, down 5-3, moved within one again in the top of the seventh before the Bees were able to get the final outs.
Five different pitchers worked for B’ville – Svitak, AuClair, Gavin Miller Josh Gorham and Robert Grems – with Miller going three innings and striking out four. Milburn’s pair of hits led to two RBIs as Girard, Svitak and Jack Branigan also drove in runs.
Then B’ville took on RFA Friday, and got yet another pitching gem, this one from Arvantides, who silenced the Black Knights in an 8-0 shutout.
Only surrendering four hits and not allowing a walk, Arvantides recorded 10 strikeouts and got all the runs he needed when B’ville scored three times in the bottom of the third.
Single runs in the fourth and fifth innings, plus a three-run sixth, followed as Carner struck the big blow with a home run and finished with three RBIs. Milburn’s pair of singles led to two RBIs as Dean Welch also drove in a run.
