CENTRAL NEW YORK – Armed with a proven ace in Jack Donlin and plenty of experience from nearly earning a championship a year ago, the Cazenovia baseball team put up some more strong performances in the last week of the regular season.
The Lakers hosted Clinton last Tuesday afternoon and got five more shutout innings from Donlin on the mound plus ample run support in the course of a 12-0 victory over the Comets.
With a three-run home run in the bottom of the first inning, Donlin gave Cazenovia the lead for good, and then Taven Reilley went deep moments later to make it back-to-back home runs.\
All told, the Lakers had 11 runs in that first inning. Joey Awald drove in three of them, with Jacob Cox adding a pair of RBIs as Nico Segall and Cy Abbott also drove in runs.
Given that early cushion, Donlin only had to work five innings, allowing one hit and getting seven strikeouts, not realizing that he would pitch again later in the week.
The game that Cazenovia started at Skaneateles last Monday did not end until Friday, lasting until the ninth inning, when the visiting Lakers finally took control and produced a 6-3 victory.
Twice in regulation, Cazenovia rallied, from a 2-0 deficit in the fourth and a 3-2 deficit in the fifth with Reilley’s solo home run. Then it netted three runs in the top of the ninth to break the 3-3 tie, with Jacob Cox’s single scoring the go-ahead run and Reilley adding a two-run single to give him four RBIs overall.
Though Izaak Gilbert started the game, Donlin took over in the fourth and went the rest of the way, 5 2/3 innings in all, only allowing two hits and striking out 10 while also getting two hits and an RBI at the plate.
The importance of that game only grew when the Section III Class B playoff bracket was announced Sunday and Cazenovia, as the no. 4 seed, would again face Skaneateles, holding the no. 13 seed, on Tuesday in the opening round, a win meaning another possible rematch if Clinton, the no. 5 seed, ousts no. 12 seed Bishop Grimes.
Chittenango, whose modest season included a shutout of Cazenovia on May 4, ran into Cortland last Tuesday afternoon and took a 10-4 defeat to the Purple Tigers.
The Bears trailed 5-0 when it pushed across a run in the bottom of the fourth and then, in the sixth, scored three times to cut the deficit to 5-4 as Quinton Hilliker singled, doubled and got three RBIs, with Eli Lefort, Ryan Thousand, Micah Schiralli and Andrew Kielbasa scoring those runs.
Still, Cortland got away with five runs in the top of the seventh against Chittenango pitcher Kyle Peryer, who threw a complete game. Ethan Johnson led a balanced Purple Tigers lineup with two hits and two RBIs.
Wednesday’s rematch at Gutchess Park went 7-2 in Cortland’s favor, all but decided by a five-run Purple Tigers first inning against Chittenango starter Reagan Poland.
Though Drew Thomas and Zailor Caras drove in runs in the top of the second and pitcher Reagan Poland settled down, the Bears never could catch up. Caden Albright led Cortland with a triple, single and three RBIs.
In Saturday’s 11-8 defeat to Vernon-Verona-Sherrill, Chittenango had leads of 4-1 and 6-5 get away thanks to a potent Red Devils lineup. Still, Mason Corlis homered, with Hilliker getting a double, triple and three RBIs. Lefort added a single and double and Cooper Smith drove in a run.
An open-tournament sectional playoff format means that the Bears still got in, as a no. 13 seed in Class A, trying to upend no. 4 seed Westhill in Tuesday’s opening round.
