ONONDAGA COUNTY – Early this week, the Baldwinsville baseball team would host West Genesee on the same field where the Bees outscored the Wildcats last June to reclaim the Section III Class AA championship.
It happened as the Bees were finally able to see some regular game action, the snow from last week having melted in time for some activity – and where it would get defeated for the first time in 2022.
Cicero-North Syracuse brought a 5-0 record to B’ville last Friday afternoon and, with brilliant pitching from Bryce Zicaro, was able to keep the Bees off the scoreboard and pull out a 1-0 victory.
For five innings, B’ville pitcher Kai Girard matched Zicaro, the game staying 0-0, but in the top of the sixth the Northstars broke through when Corey Cartier reached base and scored on Logan Karwowski’s single.
Girard gave up just six hits and went the distance, but so did Zicaro, who held on to his one-run lead by throwing a no-hitter until Braden Seeber and Aiden Milburn got seventh-inning hits that B’ville could not turn into runs.
Right before the snow, B’ville met Fayetteville-Manlius in its SCAC Metro division opener and, with a timely fifth-inning scoring outburst, earned a 9-6 victory over the Hornets.
F-M jumped out 2-0 in the first inning, and didn’t flinch when the Bees rallied with three runs of its own in the first, plus single runs in the second and fifth.
Chris Hoalcraft’s home run helped the Hornets tie it, 5-5, in the top of the fifth, but again B’ville countered, putting together a four-run rally in the bottom of the fifth that proved decisive.
Girard walked twice, singled and scored three runs. Reid Rachwal and Matt Carner both drove in two runs as Milburn and Perry Chetney had one RBI apiece.
Gavin Miller got the win, pitching 2 2/3 innings as part of a four-man rotation that included Girard, Milburn and Colin Ray, who combine for 12 strkeouts and only allowed three hits.
The loss to C-NS did not have any sort of lingering effect because B’ville turned around and, on Saturday afternoon, put together a 4-1 victory over Liverpool.
In the bottom of the second inning, the Bees broke a 1-1 tie by scoring twice, all that was needed as Milburn went six innings, striking out six and holding the Warriors to four hits before Carner got the save.
As if Milburn’s pitching wasn’t enough, he went three-for-three at the plate, including a home run and two singles as he produced a pair of RBIs. Carner added an RBI as Dean Welch scored twice.
Aside from the West Genesee game, B’ville is also set to face Vernon-Verona-Sherrill before a rematch with F-M Thursday and a Saturday trip to Saratoga Springs.
