SYRACUSE – Though it did not carry the perfect regular-season mark it did a year ago, the Baldwinsville boys golf team went to Wednesday’s Salt City Athletic Conference championship tournament at Drumlins Country Club’s East course determined to again take Metro division honors.
Instead, the Bees had to settle for a fifth-place finish and watch as West Genesee Gold snare six of the top 15 spots on the way to the title.
All of the golfers had to deal with a Drumlins East layout made tougher by dry weather and fast, firm conditions, combined with warm temperatures that tested every golfer’s stamina.
Amid this, B’ville finished with a team score of 455, one stroke behind Liverpool (454) in fourth place. WG Gold’s 409 beat the 421 from Fayetteville-Manlius Green and 432 from third-place Cicero-North Syracuse Blue.
Aiden Motala led the Bees on an individual basis. Motala’s 18-hole total of 82 shared fifth place with WG Gold’s Jason Clifton, four shots behind the winning 78 from Clifton’s teammate, Ben Glass.
Billy Shipman tied another Wildcats golfer, Frank Barbuto, for seventh place with an 83, while Owen Frechette’s 85 tied him for 11th place and allowed him to join Motala and Shipman advancing to May’s Section III state qualifying tournament.
No other B’ville golfer got close to the top three, though, as Sebastian Branshaw was next in the order, posting a 99. Jacob Penafeather, Alex Roziock and Caleb Kinley each shot 106, with Rocco Weaver (113) and Alex Trasher (114) beating out Craig Vredenburg (118) and Trevor Miller (125).
B’ville seemed to have gained some major momentum when, 24 hours earlier at Timber Banks, it won a 191-194 decision over West Genesee Gold that secured the regular-season league title with a 12-2 mark.
Frechette and Alex Blum led the way, each of them shooting 37 to counteract the 34 from WG’s Jason Clifton. Shipman finished with a 38 and Motala had a 39, while Penafeather shot a 40 to secure the Bees’ victory.
B’ville White had lost 185-213 to Liverpool back on Monday at Foxfire. Vredenburg shot a solid 38, but that trailed a 33 by Dom Osbeck and 34 from Warriors teammate Owen Michaud.
Dominic DeRito finished with a 40, matched by Evan Haskins and topped by the Liverpool duo of Nick Scholz and Jake Berthoff, who both posted 39. Weaver and Brayden Sheridan had matching totals of 44 as Miller added a 47.
