The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
Oneida’s season ends with regional final loss
Vaughan, Saints too much for Section III champ to overcome
ENDICOTT, N.Y. » Oneida played nearly flawless baseball during the Section III Class B playoffs en route to capturing the first championship in program history.
In Saturday’s New York State Public High School Athletic Association regional final, it wasn’t quite as crisp.
Coach Ryan Kramer’s squad committed five errors in a 5-2 season-ending loss to Section IV champion Seton Catholic Central.
“It’s a little frustrating,” said Kramer after the loss. “A lot to be proud of in the year. We had some great games. We just didn’t play very well today. We kind of beat up on ourselves. We didn’t play our A-style baseball and at this level you have to in order to be in the game and win games.”
The third-year coach was happy with the way his offense performed against Saints’ starter Mason Vaughan, racking up eight hits. The junior pitcher was able to limit the damage, allowing only singles and not walking a batter while striking out seven and allowing just one earned run.
Vaughan also had a pair of doubles and a run scored in the victory.
Ryan Chevier took the loss on the mound for Oneida, allowing four runs — three earned — on six hits with two strikeouts and two walks over five innings.
Lukas Albro went 2-for-3 at the plate in defeat and teammate Jorden Barlow went 1-for-2 with an RBI.
Albro led off the game with a single but the Saints’ defense turned a 4-6-3 double play to get
Vaughan quickly through the inning. Leo Gallagher led off the bottom of the first with a single before Vaughan’s first double put two runners in scoring position with no outs. Zach Pruden plated Gallagher with the game’s first run on an RBI groundout that sent Vaughan to third. He would score on a sacrifice fly from Nick Corino, extending the lead to 2-0.
Chevier pitched two scoreless innings before his team came back in the top of the fourth. Tanner Williams, James Dick and Chevier hit three straight singles to start the frame before Vaughan got the first out on a strikeout. Barlow followed with a fly ball to center field for a sacrifice fly and an error on the play allowed Dick to score as well, tying the score at 2-2.
The Saints quickly took the lead back in the home half of the inning, with some help fromthe defense. FinbarrHuff singled to start a one-out rally and Cody Malyszek followed with a walk. Peter Hartrick hit a ground ball and Oneida couldn’t force Malyszek out at second, loading the bases for MichaelMartin. He hit a fly ball that was misplayed in right field that scored the go-ahead run but Hartrick, who had retreated to first, was thrown out at second. An error on a ground ball hit by Fritz Huff allowed Malyszek to score, extending the lead to 4-2.
Oneida had a chance to get closer in the top of the fifth when Zach LaQuay and Dan Myatt led off with back-to-back singles. Lukas Albro collected a third straight hit but pinch runner Casey Rich was thrown out at the plate trying to score and Vaughan retired the next two batters to get out of the inning with the two-run lead in tact.
Chevier worked around a leadoff double in the bottom of the fifth with some help from Tucker Rodgers, who made a great diving catch in center field for the first out.
That inning would be the starter’s last and his coach was pleased with the effort.
“He did a great job,” said Kramer. “He settled in after that first inning and really pounded the zone. We didn’t make enough plays to win one.”
Dick pitched the sixth in relief and two errors resulted in an unearned run to cap the scoring at 5-2.
Vaughan, meanwhile, retired the final eight batters he faced to end an Oneida season that Kramer said his players should still be very proud of.
“Doing something that’s the first time it has been done at your school, winning a sectional title, that’s always positive,” he said. “We thank the seniors for what they did, putting this programto a different level; somewhere where it hasn’t been before. And that’s something that’s deserving of these kids and when it’s all said and done, they did something that no one else can say they’ve done.