CENTRAL NEW YORK – What had taken place in April indicated for the Solvay baseball team that it was ready for a championship push, even if it would endure a setback as the month concluded.
The state Class B no. 14-ranked Bearcats continued to add to its win total last Monday afternoon against visiting Cazenovia, using a big third inning as the catalyst to prevail 9-3.
Pitchers Jacob Bigelow (for Solvay) and Zane Ison (for Cazenovia) and kept it 0-0 until the bottom of the third, when Solvay batted around and didn’t let up until it had scored seven times.
Max Overend went three-for-three at the plate with two doubles and two runs scored. Aaron Trendell and Vito Hamon each drove in two runs, with Bigelow and Sawyer Stewart also earning RBIs. Bigelow allowed just three hits in five innings before Justin Zimmerman worked the last two innings of relief.
Now Solvay faced a bigger test, dealing with Bishop Ludden and its pitching ace, Joe Dunham – and the Bearcats could not solve Dunham, who put together another gem in a 3-0 Gaelic Knights victory.
As Dunham found his rhythm, Ludden struck for two runs in the bottom of the first off Overend, tacking on another run in the third as Jimmy Westers went three-for-three with a double, two singles and an RBI. Parker Pichoske had two hits and scored twice as Jacob Sadowski added two hits and also drove in a run.
Though Overend shut out the Gaelic Knights from there and only allowed seven hits overall, Dunham didn’t need anything more. In six-plus innings he struck out seven and limited Solvay to five hits, with only Cappetta getting two hits.
This carried over for Solvay into Friday’s rematch with Cazenovia where it lost by a 4-3 margin wasting a great pitching performance from Cameron Cappetta.
Overend’s first-inning solo home run and run-scoring hits by Hamon and Zimmerman in the second gave Cappetta a 3-0 lead and he kept it through six innings, accumulating eight strikeouts.
But in the bottom of the seventh it all went away. Cazenovia tied it 3-3 and, with Chris Cappetta working in relief, Joey Awald singled home the game-winning run.
Before all this, Ludden had to lean on its bats late in last Monday’s game with Skaneateles in order to pull out a thrilling 6-5 victory over the Lakers.
Westers and his Skaneateles counterpart, Hugh Carroll, mostly contained things through the early innings. Twice the Gaelic Knights led and twice Skaneateles tied it before Ludden scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth.
Trailing 4-2, the Lakers got to Westers for three runs in the top of the seventh for a 5-4 lead, only to see the Gaelic Knights tie it and score the winning run with one out in the bottom of the seventh off Sean Olley.
Wester and Jack Ruddy both hit home runs, accounting for five RBIs between them. Dunham drove in the other run as the Lakers saw Carroll go four-for-four and Olley’s pair of hits lead to two RBIs, with Torin Bennett and Luke Ellis also driving in runs.
Returning on Thursday, Skaneateles swept a doubleheader with Mexico.
In the first game the Lakers defeated the Tigers 6-2, breaking out of a 2-2 tie with a pair of fourth-inning runs and adding single tallies in the sixth and seventh as Carroll homered, doubled, singled and earned three RBIs.Bennett, Shea Musso and Cody Crane also drove in runs. Declan Pfau and McKendell Sweeney combined to limit the Tigers to five hits and accumulated 10 strikeouts.
The second game was more lopsided, a 14-1 Lakers victory which peaked with an eight-run second inning. Pfau doubled and drove in three runs, with Luke Ellis adding two hits and two RBIs as he, along with Bennett and Carroll, scored twice and Nate Latreille only allowed one hit in five innings.
Jordan-Elbridge was victorious last Friday beating Cato-Meridian 11-6, the Eagles improving its overall record to 6-3 right after a 4-2, 10-inning defeat to Altmar-Parish-Williamstown.
Against the Rebels, J-E led 2-0 after three innings and was still in front until APW scored twice the sixth and, after two scoreless extra frames, won it with two runs in the 10th.
Shannon Ahern had three hits, half the Eagles’ total, and runs were driven in by Nolan Brunelle and Ryan Horrell, who pitched three innings before David Dominick went the last seven innings, the pair combining for 11 strikeouts.
