CENTRAL NEW YORK – In both local venues and those far warmer and to the south, area high school baseball teams plunged into their 2023 seasons during the first full week of April.
And it would culminate Saturday when Fayetteville-Manlius, fresh off its unlikely run to the 2022 state Class AA championship game, would face Christian Brothers Academy, and not get on the scoreboard.
The Brothers prevailed 3-0 behind the tremendous pitching of Luke Boule (four innings) and Will Harrigan (three innings), who, despite allowing six walks, combined to throw a no-hitter, getting 11 strikeouts between them.
Meanwhile, CBA notched single runs in the first, second and fifth innings as Max Danaher took the loss. Harrigan singled, scored a run and had an RBI as Mike Menar also drove in a run.
Before all this, CBA took on Bishop Grimes last Monday and the Brothers, helped in no small part by a big sixth inning at the plate, beat the Cobras 7-1.
Aside from a first-inning tally, Grimes pitcher Bruno Kinsey did quite well in the early going, keeping it 1-0 as Casey Vaughn maintained his shutout most of the way.
Not until the bottom of the sixth did CBA chase Vaughn, batting around and scoring six times as Hector Gonzalez had a pair of RBIs, with Menar, Tristan Korfonta and Mike Giamartino earning one RBI apiece. Tristan Mancari drove in Jon Farstler with Grimes’ lone run in the seventh.
Grimes roared back from this to rout Port Byron 21-0 on Saturday, getting away with four runs in the fourth and fifth innings before putting together an 11-run outburst in the top of the sixth.
Mancari drew four of the Cobras’ 14 walks and scored three runs. Kinsey went three-for-five and also scored three times as Matt Govendo’s trio of hits led to three RBIs. Dante Piraino also drove in three runs as Colin Smith and Brett Helmer joined Farstler with two RBIs.
Jamesville-DeWitt, who opened April 1 with a 1-0, 10-inning win over Whitesboro where it did not get a hit, found its bats in a big way during last Monday’s game against Central Square.
Beating the Redhawks 10-2, the Red Rams scored three times in the first inning, three more in the fourth and four in the fifth inning, and managed nine hits.
Dante Santos and Eamon Giblin both drove in a pair of runs. A.J. Sumida and Aidan McGuire each scored twice as Luke VanMarter pitched five no-hit innings, striking out eight.
East Syracuse Minoa began its trip to the Maryland and Virginia areas by beating Norfolk Academy 10-6, scoring in every inning except the second to help overcome a 4-3 mid-game deficit.
Dan Gilkey hit the Spartans’ first home run of the season, adding a double and getting three RBIs. Trey Bova’s single and double led to driving in three runs, too, as A.J. Graham and Aaron Reynolds had one RBI apiece.
