CENTRAL NEW YORK – When a pair of reigning Section III baseball champions from 2023 met last Tuesday afternoon, it did not disappoint, especially from the perspective of Jamesville-DeWitt.
The undefeated, reigning Class A champion Red Rams managed to outlast reigning Class AA champion Liverpool 4-3, winning it in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Getting the jump, the Warriors scored twice in the top of the first inning, but single runs in the first and fourth by J-D produced a 2-2 tie that held up until the latter stages.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Rams edged in front, 3-2, only to have Liverpool tie it in the top of the seventh. But faced with the prospect of extra innings, J-D instead settled it when Eamon Giblin doubled and, after an intentional walk to Luke VanMarter, Ryan Walker singled home Giblin.
Walker also got the win on the mound, pitching three solid innings of relief after VanMarter started, the pair combining for 10 strikeouts. Dylan Bertollini went three-for-three with a run scored. Aaron Ko and Nick Jordan added RBIs.
Now the Rams turned its attention to Fulton, winning the opening game of that series 9-2 on Thursday as Giblin pitched four innings and also drove in three runs. Ko added a pair of RBIs as Griffon Filighera combined with Giblin on 11 strikeouts.
Back home on Friday, J-D again beat the Red Dragons to make it 10 in a row, a 3-2 game far closer than the first one.
Single runs in the first two innings had Fulton in front 2-0, but again the Rams battled back, with a run in the third and another in the fifth to tie it 2-2 before again prevailing in its last at-bat.
Giblin and VanMarter both had RBIs to key the comeback and finished with two hits apiece. Sam Ashe got the win, pitching in relief after Ko and Luke McQuaid worked three innings apiece.
As J-D was stopping Liverpool, East Syracuse Minoa met a different fate against visiting Baldwinsville, unable to recover from giving up four runs in the first inning of a 9-1 loss to the Bees.
Angry after a 15-0 defeat to Cicero-North Syracuse the day before, B’ville jumped Spartans starter C.J. Fleet,, who only lasted two innings before relief stints from Mike Munger, John Reale and Tyler Hildreth.
Meanwhile, the Spartans got just four hits off Bees pitcher Joey Warner, who threw a complete game. Luke Liedka had one of those hits and drove in Hildreth with ESM’s lone run in the bottom of the sixth.
More frustrating was a 10-9 defeat to Central Square on Thursday where the Spartans built an 8-2 lead through three innings and a 9-4 lead by the sixth, only to have the Redhawks score three times in the sixth and seventh innings to pull it out.
Before it all fell apart, Munger had singled twice and drove in three runs. Liedka added a pair of RBIs as single runs were driven in by Nick Commisso and Trey Bova.
ESM got even a day later, blanking Central Square 12-0. A five-run second inning broke it open, Bova going three-for-three with three RBIs and Munger drove in two runs.
Commisso and Bova combined on the shutout, holding the Redhawks to four hits. ESM improved to 4-7 with that win, but then took a 13-2 defeat to Liverpool on Saturday as it only managed four hits.
Bishop Grimes began its own busy stretch last Tuesday with an 11-1 defeat at Cazenovia. Dakota Benoit drove home Ben Carroll with the Cobras’ lone run in the top of the second, but the Lakers broke open a close game with a seven-run outburst in the fourth as Grimes got just two hits off Cazenovia ace Jack Donlin, who struck out 13.
Far closer was Wednesday’s 9-6 defeat to Solvay, where Grimes trailed three times (1-0, 4-1 and 6-4) and rallied every time to tie it. Frank Sgroi drove in two runs, with Avery Pankow getting two hits and two runs scored as Aaron Nuzzo scored twice and Carroll added an RBI.
Despite this, the Bearcats went ahead for good with three runs in the bottom of the sixth off pitcher Tyler Mierek and then got the final three outs.
Then, in the rematch with Cazenovia on Thursday, Grimes pulled out a 10-9 victory when, trailing 4-0, it broke out with six runs in the fourth inning and four in the fifth, all of which were needed to fend off a late Lakers rally.
Pankow, Sgroi and Carroll produced two hits apiece, with Sgroi driving in a pair of runs as Nuzzo scored a pair of runs and Dante Piraino joined Carroll and Sgroi in sharing the pitching duties.
On Saturday, Grimes met a 12-0 Bishop Ludden side playing its fifth game in as many days, and put up a good battle, keeping the game tied 1-1 until the top of the seventh, when seven Gaelic Knights runs led to an 8-3 Cobras defeat. Piraino drove in two runs and Jackson Fudge added an RBI.
