CENTRAL NEW YORK – The possibility of going through an entire baseball regular season without a defeat suddenly presented itself to Westhill, but it got halted last weekend.
After taking 15 games in a row, Westhill finally lost, 12-6, to Baldwinsville, who blew it open with a seven-run third inning and took full advantage of seven Westhill errors.
Of course, the streak had nearly ended two days earlier against Bishop Grimes, with Westhill having to make a late comeback to pull out a 7-5 victory over the Cobras.
Grimes pushed across four runs in the top of the fourth to take a 5-2 lead, but an inning later Westhill countered with five runs to go back in front.
Mike Madigan led the comeback at the plate, finishing with a triple, single and three RBIs, while Aiden Kerr drove in a run and, more importantly, pitched 3 1/3 innings of scoreless relief to get the win.
Back at the start of the week, Westhill defeated Skaneateles 3-1 as Ryan Campbell again pitched well.
Campbell was matched by Skaneateles’ Ben Underhill for four innings until the top of the fifth, when Westhill scored twice, adding an insurance run in the seventh as Madigan and Trey Dillobaugh were credited with RBIs
Though Skaneateles broke up Campbell’s shutout when Cal Anna singled home Carter Corbett in the seventh, he still struck out eight and limiting the Lakers to five hits.
Two days later, Westhill faced Chittenango and promptly scored six runs in the top of the first inning, all that it would need, though it went on to get a lot more in a 14-2 romp over the Bears.
Campbell doubled and drove in three runs. Madigan and Ryan had two RBIs apiece. Dom Zawadzki pitched 4 2/3 innings, striking out six before Aidan Ryan provided 2 1/3 innings of no-hit relief.
Skaneateles knocked off Homer 13-3 last Monday entirely on the basis of a fourth inning where, trailing 3-0, it nearly batted around twice, battering the Trojans for a season-best 12 runs in that single frame.
Then the Lakers beat Phoenix 8-3 a day later and, on Thursday, Skaneateles handled Marcellus 13-4, erasing a 2-0 deficit when it erupted for 10 runs in the top of the fifth inning.
Olley, Chad Lowe and Scott Scherrer each finished with two RBIs, with Anna, Nate Shattuck and Hugh Carroll scoring two runs apiece. Cade Lamphere pitched and got the win, only allowing three hits.
A 5-2 victory over Chittenango Saturday was the Lakers’ fifth in a row, with single runs in the second and third allowing Skaneateles to erase the Bears’ 2-0 advantage before it scored twice in the fourth to go in front.
Homer beat Solvay 6-4, using a run in the fourth and two runs in the fifth to overcome the Bearcats’ 4-3 lead. Aaron Trendell and Gray Caldron led Solvay with two hits apiece as Cameron Cappetta and Jordan Dippold drove in runs.
A day later, Solvay fell 8-7 to Phoenix. A five-run second inning by the Firebirds erased a 4-0 Bearcats lead, and the deficit grew to 8-4 before Solvay got three in the sixth, only to see the comeback fall just short.
Marcellus prevailed 10-0 over Hannibal last Tuesday, using a nine-run fifth inning to end matters. Ethan Dilmore doubled, singled and drove in three runs, with Matt Thorpe getting a pair of RBIs. Gavin Foy struck out seven while holding Hannibal to three hits.
Things reversed on Wednesday when the Mustangs lost 15-6 to Central Square, decided when the Redhawks scored nine runs in the top of the seventh to break a 6-6 tie. Prior to that, Dilmore singled twice and drove in three runs. A 4-0 defeat to Oswego followed on Saturday afternoon as Marcellus fell to 7-10 overall.
Jordan-Elbridge took a 14-4 defeat to Weedsport last Monday, giving up eight runs in the bottom of the first and never catching up, though Dominic Rinaldo did drive in a pair of runs and score twice.
A 12-0 loss to Tully followed a day later, and facing Port Byron on Friday the Eagles were shut out again, 3-0, only getting two hits off Panthers pitcher Connor Usowski, who struck out 15.
