CENTRAL NEW YORK – A trio of area high school baseball teams embarked upon the last portions of their respective seasons still in search of some high-quality victories.
Bishop Grimes was just 4-8 going into its May 27 game agianst 7-3 Westhill, but managed to upend the Warriors 10-2 mainly on the strength of an eight-run rally in the top of the third inning.
Eight different Cobras players drove in a run, with only Jack Gutchess getting a pair of RBIs as he and Seth Murphy scored twice. Murphy also pitched three innings in tandem with Bruno Kinsey, the pair overcoming 10 walks to keep Westhill from catching up.
Then, in the rematch with Westhill last Tuesday, it turned into a pitcher’s duel between Murphy and the Warriors’ Mike Madigan, who came out on top by a 1-0 margin.
All Murphy gave up was a first-inning run, ultimately striking out 10 in six innings. But Madigan kept Grimes off the board, only giving up hits to Dominic Rossi and Ryan Kinane as he struck out six and walked two.
Grimes lost Thursday to Bishop Ludden 7-4, unable to hold on to leads of 2-0 and 4-2. Murphy still had three hits and an RBI, with Patrick Towsley and Peter Dunham each driving in two runs for the Gaelic Knights.
Jamesville-DeWitt was successful on May 27 against Oswego, bashing the Buccaneers 18-6 as it survived a wild first two innings up 8-5, scored in every inning except the fourth and used six runs in the top of the seventh to double its already substantial lead.
Matt Sweeney and Dante Santos both went three-for-four, combining for five RBIs. Jake Ogata drove in three runs as Duncan Foss got two RBIs, with Matt Alexander scoring four runs to match Sweeeney. Carter King and William Doran had one RBI apiece.
But J-D lost the rematch to Oswego 10-5 a day later, the Bucs scoring six times in the top of the fourth to erase the Rams’ 3-1 lead. King hit a home run and got two RBIs, with Matt Alexander and Dante Santos also driving in runs.
Against Central Square last Tuesday, J-D twice rallied, from 2-1 and 3-2 deficits, to get the game to extra innings, only to give up six runs in the top of the ninth to fall 9-3 to the Redhawks. Santos, King and Sweeney drove in the Rams’ runs.
Impressive on Thursday, the Rams defeated Syracuse City 12-2 with a power surge that included two home runs from King that led to five RBIs and a round-tripper from Alexander, who drove in two runs. J-D finished with mulitple runs in every inning except the third as David Stewart pitched a complete game.
Friday’s second game with Syracuse ended with J-D taking a 6-5 defeat, though Santos and Sweeney both finished with two hits and an RBI.
East Syracuse Minoa fell to Syacuse 3-1 on May 27 in a game where Bryce Hall pitched quite well, giving up six hits and three walks but striking out seven in a complete-game effort.
Kevin Stewart scored in the top of the third to tie the game 1-1, but Syracuse converted twice in the fifth for the decisive runs and held the Spartans to two hits, one each by Spencer Carnival and Garrett Hockey.
A day later, ESM lost the rematch with Syracuse 7-6, this one more painful because the Spartans led 6-3 until Syracuse rallied for four runs in the top of the seventh inning to pull it out.
Stewart doubled and drove in two runs, with Jordan Sanson scoring twice as he, along with Nate Pullano, Jeff Tily and Vince Bova earned one RBI apiece.
In last Thursday’s 9-2 defeat to Fulton, single runs in the first two innings didn’t hold up as the Red Raiders went in front with a three-run third and added to that margin later, despite a pair of hits from Jimmy Ferns.
The rematch on Friday had ESM rally from an early 5-2 deficit to take an 8-5 lead in the sixth. But Fulton scored three times in the seventh and again in the eighth to pull it out 9-8. Ferns had three hits and Carnival added a pair of RBIs.
ESM and J-D would both miss the Section III Class A playoffs – but Bishop Grimes got the no. 9 seed in Class B-1, needing to beat no. 8 seed Oneida to earn a shot at top seed South Jefferson in the quarterfinal round.
