CENTRAL NEW YORK – All along, the Jamesville-DeWitt baseball team knew that any hopes of going to the top of the Salt City Athletic Conference Empire division lay in beating Cortland.

And that’s exactly what took place – twice.

In the first game last Monday afternoon at Gutchess Field, the Red Rams ignoring the cold and the opposition to put up big run totals and humble the Purple Tigers 15-6.

Dating back to the start of the 2022 season (when it won the sectional title), Cortland had won 28 of 31 games and had started 8-0 this spring, and answered J-D’s two-run first inning with three runs in the bottom of the first.

However, the Red Rams kept going, with two runs in the second and third and then pulling away with a four-run fourth and five-run sixth inning, helped by four Purple Tigers errors.

Eamon Giblion, Dante Santos and Jake Ogata led with two hits apiece, but it was Tyler Kaelin driving in three runs as A.J. Sumida added a double and two RBIs. Luke VanMarter pitched four innings to earn the win as he split mound duties with Will Cooper, the pair striking out eight and only allowing four hits.

Then J-D returned home a day later and proved it wasn’t a fluke by claiming the rematch with Cortland 7-2, Ogata pitching a complete game and limiting the Purple Tigers to four hits.

A run in the third inning got the Rams in front, but it was a four-run fourth that broke the game open, Ryan Walker driving in a pair of runs as single RBIs went to Ogata, Giblin, Aidan McGuire and Aaron Ko. Kaelin scored twice.

Two days later, J-D kept it up at Oswego, prevailing 7-3 over the Buccaneers. Three runs in the top of the second erased an early 2-1 deficit, the Rams adding two runs in the fifth and a run in the sixth.

Kaelin drove in a pair of runs, with RBIs also going to Santos and Sumida. Giblin scored twice as, on the mound, Tim Cooper relieved Kibling in the second and blanked Oswego over the last five innings despite allowing six hits.

Only on Friday’s rematch with the Bucs did J-D cool down, falling 4-1 as Sumida scored in the bottom of the first, but the Rams were blanked the rest of the way by Oswego pitcher Matt Krul.

Luke VanMarter pitched 5 2/3 innings, keeping a 1-0 lead until the Bucs scored twice in the fifth and again in the seventh off reliever Will Cooper. Krul, aside from his pitching, also had a pair of RBIs.

East Syracuse Minoa took an 8-7, nine-inning defeat to Central Square last Monday in a game where it fell behind 5-1 in the third and 7-4 in the fourth inning, yet came back each time.

Single runs in the fifth, sixth and seventh forced extra innings as Carter Stewart went four-for-five with a double and Dan Gilkey added three hits. Nick Commisso got a pair of RBIs as he, along with Jacob Pachecho and Aaron Reynolds, had two hits apiece.

Another close game with Central Square followed a day later – and ESM lost again by a single run, 3-2, held to just four hits overall as Stewart struck out 11 in 5 1/3 innings and only allowed five hits.

Those struggles continued Thursday in an 11-3 loss to Syracuse City on Thursday, Syracuse using a six-run fourth inning to gain control. Trey Bova drove in two of ESM’s three runs, the other driven in by Gilkey.

But ESM picked a good time, and a good opponent, to end this skid, surprising Auburn 3-2 on Friday as it overcame the Maroons’ pair of runs in the top of the second.

Single runs in the second and fourth pulled the Spartans even, 2-2, and in the bottom of the sixth Carter Stewart’s single scored Kevin Stewart, who had tripled, with the go-ahead run, Carter and Mike Munger having already driven in runs.

Charged with that slim lead, Bova pitched a scoreless seventh inning of relief, rewarding the six-inning start from Luke Liedka, whose six strikeouts helped to overcome four hits and four walks.