ONONDAGA COUNTY – The possibility of going through an entire regular season undefeated started to inch closer for the Jamesville-DeWitt baseball team – until it got stopped by an unexpected and unlikely nemesis.
Syracuse City, who was just 3-9 going into last Wednesday’s game at Van Duyn Field, rose up and stunned the Red Rams 8-7, putting an end to what had become a 12-game win streak.
Having beat Syracuse 10-4 back on April 23, J-D had no reason to feel apprehensive. Even when Syracuse scored three runs in the bottom of the second inning, the Rams, down 3-1, countered with a two-run third to quickly tie it, then took a 7-3 lead with four runs in the top of the fifth.
But Syracuse had an answer. In the bottom of the fifth, it loaded the bases and then got consecutive run-scoring hits from Gavin Zubrzycki, Kazuo Keech (a two-run single) and Jackson Grier that were part of a five-run rally.
Now trailing by a run, J-D still had a chance, only to not get a run in the last two innings off Syracuse starter Alex Ervin, who limited the Rams to six hits, two each by Dylan Bertollini and Eamon Giblin as Bertollini earned a pair of RBIs.
Before this, the Red Rams went to East Syracuse Minoa last Monday and applied quite a finishing touch on the way to defeating the Spartans 11-1.
A three-run first inning off ESM starter Trey Bova was enough production, yet the Spartans didn’t go away, exchanging runs in the third as A.J. Graham singled home Tyler Hildreth.
It was only 5-1 when, in the top of the seventh, J-D got six runs off C.J. Fleet. Eamon Giblin and Dylan Bertollini led the Rams with three hits apiece, with Luke VanMarter and Ryan Walker each getting two hits as Walker had three RBIs, just ahead of Giblin, Bertollini and Aaron Ko with two RBIs apiece.
The Le Moyne College-bound VanMarter pitched six solid inning, giving up just one hit and three walks while striking out eight.
Back at J-D a day later, the Rams again met ESM, and the result was the same, only here the Spartans never got on the board and the Rams won by a 13-0 margin.
Between them, Giblin (four innings) and Griffon Filighera (three innings) limited ESM to two hits, striking out eight, while John Reale did a solid job early, shutting out the Rams for three frames after a two-run first inning.
Then came the bottom of the fifth.
Erupting at the plate, J-D plated 11 runs, nearly batting around twice. Giblin finished with a single, double and three RBIs, while Ko and Bertollini each drove in two runs and VanMarter scored three times. Aidan McGuire scored twice and added an RBI.
None of this offered any hint as to what would happen against Syracuse a day later. Still, J-D could take from it the fact that the pressure of an undefeated season was now off as another tough opponent, Baldwinsville, loomed on Friday.
ESM, meanwhile, saw its struggles continue last Thursday with an 11-6 defeat to Oswego, this despite erasing an early 6-0 deficit with six runs in the bottom of the second, most of them driven home by Trey Bova’s grand slam as A.J. Graham added an RBI. The Buccaneers countered with a three-run fifth to go in front for good, and ultimately held the Spartans to just four total hits.
In Friday’s rematch with Oswego, the Spartans fell 5-2 to the Bucs, who erased a 2-1 ESM lead with a pair of third-inning runs and then got away behind Tyler Dean’s solid pitching. Nick Commisso took the loss, though he had an RBI at the plate.
