CENTRAL NEW YORK – If the schedule and the weather held, the West Genesee baseball team faced six games in as many days, more than making up for the quiet stretches in April.
It all kicked off last Monday against Fayetteville-Manlius, with the state Class AA no. 10-ranked Wildcats surrendering an early 2-0 lead but then taking charge with one big rally to beat the struggling Hornets 11-3.
A run in the third inning tied it 3-3. Then, in the bottom of the fourth WG chased F-M starter Harrison Schwab and batted around on its way to seven runs.
Zach Elinich led the way, going three-for-four with a pair of RBIs. Ryan Tabaczyk also drove in two runs as single RBIs went to Colin Crinnin and Austin Glowacki. Tabaczyk held F-M to four hits in his six innings on the mound.
The rematch at F-M a day later was postponed, but WG returned to action against Watertown on Wednesday afternoon and again reached double digits on the scoreboard in a 13-3 win over the Cyclones as Nick Meluni earned three RBIs and Crinnin accumulated four hits.
And the Wildcats didn’t stop there, either, topping Ithaca 14-4 on Thursday afternoon to make it seven wins in a row.
Down 5-4 in the top of the fourth WG scored twice, added two runs in the sixth and got away with a seven-run outburst in the top of the seventh. Ben Jessen singled twice and drove in three runs, with Brayden Fougnier adding a triple as he joined Crinnin and Meluni earning two RBIs apiece. Colin Straub added three hits.
All of this led to Friday’s clash of two reigning sectional champions, WG facing Class A state no. 2-ranked Jamesville-DeWitt – and finally taking a blemish in a 4-1 defeat to the Red Rams.
Meluni’s solo home run off Luke VanMarter in the top of the first was all the Wildcats would produce. VanMarter (three innings) and Jack Pole (four innings) held WG to six hits, two of them by Jessen.
Gerard Shattell pitched and kept J-D quiet until the bottom of the fifth, when it produced all of its runs as Eamon Giblin, Cole Jordan and Anthony Ricciardello each had an RBI.
Westhill was back in action on Thursday afternoon, facing Chittenango and recording a 4-1 victory over the Bears.
Single runs in the first three innings proved enough for the Warriors as Collin White and Kellen Pens each got two hits while joining Dom Scarfino and Tom Hunt in the assist column. On the mound, White, Anthony Sampo and Peter Stroman combined to hold Chittenango to six hits and a single sixth-inning tally.
Marcellus had a far different result that same day against Cortland, shut out 12-0 by the state Class A no. 12-ranked Purple Tigers who saw pitcher Cal Albright throw a five-inning no-hitter which included seven strikeouts.
But the Mustangs more than made up for this on Friday with a win over one of its biggest rivals, taking out Skaneateles in a 5-2 decision.
The Lakers were coming off back-to-back wins over Mexico, but Gavin Foy contained them, overcoming seven hits and three walks to get eight strikeouts in his complete-game effort.
After Skaneateles tied it 1-1 in the top of the third Marcellus answered with a run in the bottom of the third but made its decisive move in the fifth, scoring three times.
Kyler Kolm twice delivered clutch hits and drove in four of the Lakers’ five runs. Tyler Mattison had the other RBI as Elijah Eaton scored twice and Max Chapman got a pair of hits. Sean Olley and Hugh Carroll combined for five of the seven Skaneateles hits and drove in both runs.
Bishop Ludden played on Saturday and lost 6-5 to unbeaten Class C power Beaver River, who scored five times in the bottom of the third to gain control, only to have the Gaelic Knights answer with five runs in the top of the fourth.
Brandon Burch and Nick Brady both had two-run doubles in that fourth inning as Tom Cervantes also drove in a run, and Brady pitched until the sixth, when Beaver River pushed across the go-ahead run off reliever Nik Kunai.
