Having come so close to the Section III Class B championship a season ago, and buoyed by a strong returning cast, the Cazenovia baseball team is dead set on glory in 2023.
To get it going, the Lakers paid a visit to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina during the April school break, where, in the first game of the Mingo Bay Classic, it met West Virginia’s Tyler Consolidated and prevailed by a 4-2 margin.
A lack of outside practice time led to a cold start at the plate, but with Jack Byrnes throwing three scoreless and Jack Donlin continuing from there, Cazenovia kept it 0-0.
Then, in the sixth, Byrnes doubled, Donlin walked and Jacob Grevelding singled to load the bases. Sully Clarke’s squeeze bunt scored Byrnes with the game’s first run.
Jacob Szalach also bunted, scoring Donlin, and after the bases were loaded again Izaak Gilbert drilled a two-run single – which proved the winning hit when Donlin allowed two runs in the seventh, but was able to close it out, he and Byrnes having surrendered just one total hit while striking out 10.
Another West Virginia team, Hampshire, was next, and Cazenovia pitched well here, too, earning a 5-1 victory as Szalach limited the opposition to three hits and four walks, striking out eight.
Single runs in the second, third and fifth innings were followed by a two-run sixth as Joey Awald and Nico Segall both scored twice, with Szalach and Gilbert getting one RBI apiece.
The win streak halted Wednesday with a 9-2 defeat to Blackburg (South Carolina), the Lakers unable to do much against Blackburg pitcher Matt Cody, who struck out 12 and only gave up two hits, one each to Donlin and Clarke. Grevelding and Cy Abbott shared pitching duties.
But the Lakers closed the trip well on Thursday , defeating Lewis County (West Virginia) 8-5. It scored single runs in each of the first three innings, then netted three runs in the fifth to take control.
Byrnes pitched 4 2/3 innings before Donlin worked a 2 1/3 inning relief stint, having also scored three runs and matched Byrnes, Grevelding and Szalach with two hits apiece. Grevelding and Szalach both drove in a pair of runs.
Back home, Chittenango had an impressive start to its baseball season, too, the Bears putting together a 7-0 shutout of Canastota in Monday’s warm, windy conditions.
Carlos Torres-Carman allowed just one hit in six innings on the mound, amassing a career-best 14 strikeouts. Meanwhile, Chittenango used a run in the second inning, three runs in the third and two in the fourth to seize control.
Cooper Smith’s pair of singles’ led to two RBIs. Ben Welch and Ty Kelly each scored twice as Welch added an RBI. Zailor Caras also scored a run.
But things were different Saturday in a 14-3 loss to Oswego as the Buccaneers took advantage of seven hits and 10 walks. Mason Corlin scored twice for the Bears as Torres-Carman, Kelly and Zailor Caras had one RBI apiece.
