CENTRAL NEW YORK – Usually by the middle of May, baseball teams at Skaneateles and Westhill find themselves in playoff preparation mode, but struggles this spring has made things quite more challenging for these recent Section III champions.
When the Lakers faced rival Marcellus last Tuesday and put away the Mustangs 9-3, avenging a defeat from when the two sides met in late April in Myrtle Beach, it gave head coach Tom Warner his 200th career victory.
Two first-inning runs got the Lakers going, and it scored twice again in the third and fourth innings, enough for pitcher Declan Pfau, who struck out seven in 6 1/3 innings of work.
Sean Olley and Eric Michel both got three hits, scoring five runs between them as Keelan Maren got two hits. Dakota Wilson had three of the Mustangs’ five hits, while Max Chapman, Ethan Dilmore and Gavin Foy drove in runs.
A third Skaneateles-Marcellus game was in store on Thursday afternoon and went in a different direction, the Mustangs going on the road and rallying to top the Lakers 5-4.
Through three innings, Skaneateles led 4-2, with RBIs from Maren, Michel and Torin Bennett, but Foy shut out the Lakers the rest of the way, accumulating seven strikeouts.
A two-run fourth tied it for the Mustangs, 4-4, and it pushed across the winning run in the sixth. Dilmore doubled, singled twice and drove in two runs, with Chapman and Elijah Eaton earning two hits apiece and Chris Loveless scoring twice.
Westhill had lost four of five games when it took on Chittenango last Monday afternoon, and were able to break out of that slump in a big first inning, then hold off the Bears to win 9-6.
The Warriors got to Chittenango pitcher Ryan Thousand by scoring seven times in the bottom of the first, ultimately adding a pair of sixth-inning runs.
Trey Dillobaugh doubled and got three RBIs, with Luke Pickett adding a pair of RBIs. Mike Madigan pitched four innings and struck out nine, with relivers Collin White and T.J. Pichoske keeping it close until a five-run rally by the Bears in the seventh.
The rematch with Chittenango got rained out, but Westhill did play on Saturday afternoon against South Jefferson and got another pitching gem from Ryan Campbell to beat the Spartans 4-1.
After getting a run in the bottom of the first on Luke Pickett’s single, Westhill netted three runs in the third to account for its eventual winning margin, all driven home by a bases-clearing triple by Dom Zawadzki. Campbell did the rest, only giving up four hits and striking out 10.
The week did not start well for Solvay, who on a soggy Sunday found itself at Cazenovia and, on the Lakers’ new artificial turf facility, taking an 11-1 defeat to the Lakers.
Jack Donlin dominated the game. The Cazenovia senior hit a first-inning home run and then later added a sixth-inning grand slam, finishing with a career-best six RBIs as he also pitched and struck out 10 Bearcats. Solvay had just four hits, including A.J. Trendell’s fifth-inning RBI single that broke up the shutout.
A 12-6 defeat to Phoenix followed a day later, Solvay unable to recover from the Firebirds’ six-run third inning. Still, Trendell singled twice and drove in three runs, with Max Overend adding twoRBIs. Phoenix’s Juan Gonzalez was four-for-four with three RBIs to pace Phoenix.
In Saturday’s rematch with Cazenovia, Solvay fell again, this time in a 3-1 decision. Overend blanked the Lakers over the last six innings, but only after a three-run first. Trendel singled home Chris Cappetta in the third inning and had two of the team’s four hits.
Marcellus also lost last Monday afternoon, dropping a 4-1 decision to Bishop Grimes as it got just three hits off Tyler Mierek, yet still led 1-0 until the Cobras broke out for four runs in the bottom of the sixth on clutch hits from Dante Piraino and Jackson Fudge.
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