The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
Dick bests Scherrer to give Oneida crown
Oneida uses another hot offensive start to beat Skaneateles, win title
The Oneida baseball team reached Monday’s Section III Class B final by scoring early and riding dominant pitching to victory in each of its first three postseason games.
With the title on the line, coach Ryan Kramer’s squad found that formula successful again.
Oneida tagged Skaneateles star Cregg Scherrer for five firstinning runs and James Dick made them stand up, pitching a complete-game three-hitter for a 7-2 victory that clinched the first sectional title in pro- gram history.
“It’s unbelievable,” said Dick. “First team ever to do it so that’s, you never forget that. That’s just crazy.”
The senior said he came out trying to pound the strike zone and found success with that strategy. He allowed just two earned runs but could have had a shutout if not for a fly ball lost in the sun in the bottom of the fourth inning. Dick allowed his only three hits during that frame, finishing with six strikeouts and walking just one.
“My location (was working),” he said. “I was hitting my spots and just letting them hit the ball. Changing speeds here and there with my curveball and
then just getting them to get under it and get on top of it.”
The title was especially sweet for Dick and his senior classmates, as well as their coach. Kramer, in his third year at the helm, graduated from Oneida in 2009 and was overcome with emotion following the victory – and an ice water bath from his players.
“It’s something I looked forward to, taking over the program,” said Kramer. “We knew we could be in it and as I said, the kids come to work hard every day. We had 18 guys ready to play each day whether it be practice or a game. If their number got called they were ready to go and it came to a point where we did enough to win a sectional title.”
He and his players knew generating early offense against Scherrer would be key. Lukas Albro led off with a walk but was removed with an injury on a close play at third following the first out although he would return. Logan McClelland came out to run for him and scored the game’s first run on an RBI single by Dick. After a walk to Ryan Chevier, Scherrer came within one out of limiting the damage to just the one run with a strikeout. Another walk, however, loaded the bases for Tucker Rodgers who roped a double down the left-field line, scoring all three runners. Zach LaQuay followed with an RBI single, extending the lead to 5-0.
“I was just thinking fastball, he gave it to me and I just went for it,” Rodgers said. “(The five-run inning) was everything. We just fed off it the whole game and that’s what gave us our momentum.”
Dick cruised through his first three innings, not allowing a baserunner, but Scherrer settled in and was equally as dominant. The sophomore struck out eight straight batters between the second and fourth innings, keeping his team within striking distance after the shaky start.
The Lakers pulled a little closer in the bottom of the fourth, starting with a leadoff single that broke up the perfect game. Dick retired the next two batters and appeared to be out of the inning when he got a high fly ball to shallow right field from Adam Lupo. Staring directly into the sun, right fielder Casey Rich lost the ball and it dropped for an RBI double. Scherrer followed with a single to score pinchrunner Luke Viggiano and Dick then issued a walk before getting a groundout back to the mount to escape the inning.
“That’s one thing we’ve been talking about, growing up as individuals, growing up as a baseball team, these innings happen,” said Kramer. “In high school baseball games these innings happen all the time so we gotta rebound, we gotta come back.”
His team did come back, striking again in the sixth and seventh innings. Henry Froass started the sixthinning rally with a leadoff single against Scherrer. The Lakers ace struck out the next two batters before LaQuay kept the inning alive with a single to bring Dan Myatt to the plate as a pinch hitter. The junior did what his coach had preached all year – put the ball in play – and it paid off. Myatt reached on an error, scoring Froass from third to extend the lead to 6-2.
Scherrer struck out Williams to lead off the seventh, his 15th strikeout, but reached his pitch limit and was relieved by Jacob Nesbitt. Dick greeted him with a single and Chevier roped an RBI double to the fence for a 7-2 advantage.
Dick, meanwhile, was almost as dominant over the final three innings as he was through the first three. He only allowed one baserunner via a hit batter in the fifth, and retired the final seven batters he faced to clinch the championship.
“It’s great. It’s the main goal the whole season,” said Rodgers. “As a team we knew we could win the title. There was doubters of course and we were just here to prove them wrong which we did.”
Oneida advances to the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Class B regional final, where it will face Section IV champion Seton Catholic at Union-Endicott on Saturday at either 2 or 4:30 p.m.
Kramer and his players are confident they can keep their run going against the No. 8 ranked team in the state.
“We’re not done,” said Kramer. “We’re going to go to Binghamton and we’re going to go to win a game. One at a time.”