CENTRAL NEW YORK – Twice the Baldwinsville baseball team had took the measure of April on a neutral field at Onondaga Community College, and twice the Bees had emerged from close, hard-fought contests.

But when these neighbors met a third time last Thursday on the B’ville campus, the hosts had no answer for LHS pitching ace Jack Hoppe, who kept the Bees off the board as his side prevailed 4-0.

All through the afternoon, B’ville’s hitters went to the plate and returned having done little to figure out Hoppe, who struck out seven and only allowed one hit, to Aiden Milburn, and three walks, one each to Reid Rachwal, Gavin Miller and Joey Gennaro.

Milburn pitched 5 2/3 innings for the Bees, and surrendered single runs in the first and second innings, his four walks offsetting eight strikeouts and just two hits allowed.
Liverpool then doubled the margin with two runs in the seventh off Rachwal, Tyler Vivacqua leading the vistors as he got a pair of RBIs.

B’ville fell to 5-2 on the season and tried to recover on Saturday against Section II’s Saratoga Springs in a game played at SUNY-Cortland, but despite getting eight hits to the Blue Streaks’ three, again the Bees lost, this time by a 4-3 margin.

Gennaro’s two-run single in the bottom of the fourth erased an early 2-0 deficit, but Saratoga pushed across single runs in the sixth and seventh innings and the Bees could only pull within on another Gennaro hit in the bottom of the seventh before the Blue Streaks got the final out.

Miller pitched 5 1/3 innings, amassing nine strikeouts and only allowing two hits. Nick Wellman and Alex Curry saw relief stints as Jacob Penafeather picked up a pair of hits.

This leads to a big week where, amid a four-game stretch, B’ville will have a home-and-home series with West Genesee, the early leader in the SCAC Metro division, followed by trips to Rome Free Academy and a Saturday game in Rochester’s Frontier Field against Section V’s McQuaid.