ONONDAGA COUNTY – All through this spring, the Baldwinsville baseball team had found a way to win close games, but those fortunes reversed with the Section III Class AA playoffs looming.
In the third battle between the Bees and Cicero-North Syracuse on May 29, it again was a one-run decision, only it went in the Northstars’ favor as it prevailed 4-3.
The shadow of the 12-inning battle with C-NS the week before loomed over this game. More immediate, though, was the fact that the Bees had lost a 12-inning game to another league rival.
On May 27, B’ville and West Genesee resumed the May 7 game stopped in the eighth inning when the two sides were still deadlocked at 0-0.
They played through three more scoreless innings until the Wildcats, in the top of the 12th, managed to score three times off Luke Arvantides, and held on from there to defeat the Bees 3-0.
Back home, B’ville honored its seniors prior to the third encounter with C-NS and promptly saw pitcher Gavin Miller chased in the first inning after a single and three walks produced a 2-0 deficit.
Michael Hahn settled things down over the next three innings and B’ville poked across a run in the second. Yet it still trailed 3-1 when, in the fifth, it pulled even thanks to Kai Girard’s two-out walk, Griffin Seeber’s single and an error on a Kenny Svitak grounder that allowed both Girard and Seeber to score.
It stayed 3-3 until the top of the seventh. With two out, and Mike Rockwell on second, Bryce Zicaro hit a hard grounder off Josh Gorham that took a bad hop into left field, allowing Rockwell to score.
Then Zicaro, pitching in relief of Jacob Crystal (who retired 10 in a row at one point), allowed a walk but still recorded the final three routs to help C-NS hang on.
Four more games were left, starting last Tuesday at Fayetteville-Manlius where the Bees overcame a first-inning Hornets run and dominated the rest of the way, prevailing by a score of 6-1.
A trio of second-inning runs was enough for Aiden Milburn, who pitched 5 2/3 innings and struck out seven against six hits allowed before Girard finished it out in relief.
Milburn also recorded a pair of hits, as did Jack Branigan, the pair of them joining Seeber and Arvantides in the RBI column.
In a non-league game last Wednesday, B’ville lost 11-1 to Christian Brothers Academy, who used five-run rallies in the fifth and seventh innings to break open a close one. Milburn drove in Branigan with the Bees’ lone run as Matt Boule went four-for-four for the Brothers, he and Luke Boule each getting three RBIs.
After all this, B’ville needed a boost of confidence, and got it on Saturday when it took on Liverpool and put together a 7-2 victory over the Warriors.
A three-run first inning was all that was needed, but the Bees added two runs in the third and fifth innings to give Arvantides plenty of run support in his five-inning mound stint.
Perry Chetney, in particular, flourished at the plate, doubling twice and adding a single as he got three RBIs. Matt Carner doubled, singled and drove in a pair of runs, with Girard adding an RBI.
That last victory proved quite important because it helped B’ville climb to the top seed for the sectional Class AA tournament – and with seven teams in the field, the Bees had a bye directly into the semifinals.
B’ville will, on Thursday at 5 p.m., face the winner of a quarterfinal game between no. 5 seed Liverpool and no. 4 seed Rome Academy, with West Genesee the no. 2 seed and C-NS the no. 3 seed, all heading toward Saturday’s championship game.
