CENTRAL NEW YORK – They have something new to put on the baseball banner inside Cazenovia High School’s Buckley Gym.
When the Lakers swept a doubleheader from Jordan-Elbridge on May 27, it not only extended a win streak to 10 games, it clinched the Onondaga High School League Liberty National division regular-season championship.
The opener was a 10-0 shutout engineered by sophomore pitcher Jack Donlin, who in five innings limited the Eagles to two hits without surrendering a walk.
A two-run third inning was followed by eight runs in the bottom of the fifth, Cazenovia seeing Jack Byrnes and Patrick Linck each go three-for-four at the plate, Linck getting two RBIs and Byrnes a single RBI.
Aeden Berson’s pair of hits led to three RBIs, while Max DiGiacomo got two hits and two RBIs. Sean Smithers and Taven Reilley also drove in runs.
In the second t game against J-E, it ended 15-0 in just five innings due to the mercy rule, Cazenovia scoring five times in the first and fifth innings, with two-run rallies in the second and fourth in between.
Linck pitched the shutout this time, striking out 10 to overcome two hits and five walks while also getting a double and triple and scoring three times
Donlin and Berson both got two hits, scored three runs and finished with a pair of RBIs. A.J. Rothfeld also got two hits as Byrnes (who was walked three times), Smithers, Brice Hodges and Willem Light-Olson had one RBI apiece.
That 11-game win streak was put on the line against Solvay on May 29 and, once again, the Lakers came through, this time requiring a mid-game comeback to defeat the Bearcats 5-3.
Solvay was up 3-2 when, in the bottom of the fourth, Cazenovia got three runs off Bearcats pitcher Zach Bowen in a game that proved yet another showcase for Byrnes.
Not only did Byrnes pitch a complete game with 10 strikeouts and just three hits allowed, he doubled, tripled and drove in three runs. Donlin added two hits and an RBI as Linck went three-for-four and scored twice.
Back in action last Tuesday afternoon, Cazenovia would break out its bats against Canastota, scoring in all five innings on the way to putting away the Raiders 13-3.
Highlighted by a four-run second inning and five-run fourth inning, the Lakers had Rothfeld double, single and drive in five runs as Linck went four-for-five with a triple, three singles, three runs scored and two RBIs. Donlin pitched and struck out nine Canastota batters as Byrnes singled, walked twice and scored three runs.
It ended with Cazenovia against Chittenango on Friday afternoon and it proved as tense as any game during this long win streak – but the Lakers still made it 14 in a row by edging the Bears 2-1 in eight innings.
For most of the game, Byrnes and Chittenango’s Carlos Torres-Carman traded shutout frames. Only in the sixth did Byrnes waver a bit, Tyrus Kelly scoring for the Bears.
Regulation ended 1-1, and after Donlin pitched his second scoreless inning of relief, in the bottom of the eighth DiGiacomo struck for a two-out double off Maddox Garvey, setting up Linck to single DiGiacomo home with the winning run – just the team’s second hit all afternoon.
Since 17 teams qualified for the Section III Class B playoffs, it was split in two, and Cazenovia was awarded the top seed in B-2, where it faces no. 8 seed Sherburne-Earlville in the quarterfinals, looking to advance to Thursday’s semifinal against Lowville or Holland Patent, with the title game on Saturday.
