CENTRAL NEW YORK – A special season for the Cazenovia baseball team would reach its culmination with whatever took place in the cauldron of the Section III Class B playoffs.
Carrying a no. 3 seed, the Lakers had two possible home games on the slate, starting with Tuesday’s second-round tilt against no. 14 seed Central Valley Academy, who beat Canastota 6-2 in the opening round.
And it turned into a tense affair, not decided until Cazenovia, in the bottom of the seventh inning, put across the winning run that saved a 4-3 victory over the Thunder.
Proving its seed did not measure the quality of its roster, CVA scored twice in the first inning on Pace Ludwig’s double and again in the third to go up 3-0 on Lakers ace Jack Byrnes.
But Byrnes would settle down and blank the Thunder over the last four innings, ultimately getting 11 strikeouts while only allowing three hits.
Cazenovia stayed patient against CVA pitcher Luca Skinner and then, in the bottom of the sixth, loaded the bases. Jacob Grevelding’s grounder scored a run and then, with two outs, sophomore Nico Segall delivered his most important hit of the season, a game-tying two-run single.
They stayed 3-3 until the bottom of the seventh, where Jacob Szalach singled off Thunder reliever Tanner Warren, reached second and then raced home when Sully Clarke singled to left to win the game.
Chittenango was part of the same quarter of the Class B sectional bracket as the no. 11 seed, and if it won twice, the Bears could meet the Lakers in the quarterfinals.
Taking care of the first half of that task was tough enough, the Bears hanging on late to beat no. 22 seed Vernon-Verona-Sherrill in an 11-10 thriller.
They traded runs early, but Chittenango broke in front with a three-run second inning and five-run third that helped overcome a 5-4 Red Devils advantage.
VVS closed within one, 9-8, in the top of the fourth, only to have the Bears get a run in that frame plus a run in the sixth that was needed as the Red Devils, trailing 11-8, scored twice in the top of the seventh.
Chittenango got the final out, though, as Ryan Thousand led at the plate with three hits and two RBIs. Carlos Torres-Carman had two hits and scored four runs, with Ty Kelly and Ben Welch also driving in two runs and Zailor Caras getting a pair of hits.
Now, facing no. 6 seed Clinton in the second round with a berth against Cazenovia in the quarterfinals at stake, the Bears could not get on the board in a 2-0 defeat.
For five innings, neither side blinked, but Clinton got both runs it needed in the bottom of the sixth as Matt King and Vincent Martino drove in those runs. Pitcher Kyle Majka struck out nine as the Bears’ season ended with a 10-9 record.
