ONONDAGA COUNTY – Perhaps it took a reunion of the most successful team in Baldwinsville baseball history to remind the current group of Bees what could still be possible.
On the same Saturday afternoon that the Bees honored the 10th anniversary of its lone state title, it managed to rise up and hand undefeated, defending sectional Class B champion Westhill its first defeat in a 12-6 decision.
Westhill arrived with a 15-0 record, one of the deepest pitching staffs in the area and a solid, experienced lineup. Yet it ran up against a B’ville side emotionally charged both by Senior Day and the reunion of the 2013 state Class AA championship squad put together by the baseball program’s Alumni Assocation.
Having lost four in a row going into this game, the Bees got single runs in the first and second innings. Then, after Westhill took a 3-2 lead in the top of the third, B’ville erupted for seven runs in the bottom of the third, the key blow Reid Rachwal’s bases-clearing double.
Though Westhill would close within four, 10-6, at one point, B’ville’s pair of fifth-inning runs provided an extra cushion. Four different players – Rachwal, Braden Seeber, Evan Kinville and Logan McIntyre – scored two runs apiece, and Westhill helped plenty by committing seven errors.
None of this was suspected in the week leading up to the game, which started when defending sectional AA champion Fayetteville-Manlius swept two from B’ville.
Just as it did in 2022, F-M, once 3-9, was starting to revive, and used a big third inning to subdue the Bees 8-4 last Monday, getting even for an April 13 loss.
Already down 1-0, B’ville saw F-M strike for seven runs in the bottom of the third, chasing starter Colin Ray as Anthony Giuffrida (two hits, three RBIs) and Nolan Merrow (two RBIs) led the charge.
Ben Leaton did pitch 3 1/3 innings of scoreless, one-hit relief, but the Bees weren’t able to catch up, held to five hits as Seeber, McIntyre and Nico Wellman had one RBI apiece.
Back home for a rematch with F-M a day later, the Bees’ tendencies to give up big rallies early struck once more, leading to a 9-0 defeat.
Joey Warner suffered through a first inning where the Hornets batted around and plated six runs. Two more runs followed in the third, requiring Grady Hudson and Jace Albero to do five innings of relief work.
But one run was all F-M pitcher Max Danaher needed. He only allowed two hits in 5 1/3 innings of work as he and reliever Sam Kuss gave up just four hits between them.
Now, on Wednesday night, B’ville had a third meeting with West Genesee at Onondaga Community College, with both sides working together to promote mental health awareness.
This game proved far closer than the first two, but the Wildcats still beat the Bees 3-1, hurt mostly by Talon Elkins’ bat and pitching arm.
It was Elkins who, in the bottom of the first, found a gap for an inside-the-park home run after B’ville had scored in the top of the first when Joey Gennario singled home Jacob Penafeather.
And after WG scored twice off Aidan Milburn in the top of the third, Elkins maintained that lead through the sixth before Charlie Searle got the save. Milburn and Wellman combined for 12 strikeouts, holding the Wildcats to just three hits.
A busy final week of the regular season follows the win over Westhill, with the Bees twice taking on Cicero-North Syracuse and also facing CBA and Oswego.
