The Oneida Daily Dispatch (Oneida, NY)
Camden takes on Oneida in postseason
Blue Devils to face Skaneateles in Class B quarterfinals
Oneida’s upset bid falls short against Camden in Class B opener Friday.
CAMDEN, N.Y >> Oneida’s reputation for taking down higher seeded teams in Class B postseason play was something Camden coach Jake Bates was well aware of entering Friday’s first round sectional matchup.
After watching Oneida take down the No. 1 seed in Class B the past two seasons, Bates admitted there was ‘pit in my stomach’ when his No. 5 Blue Devils fell behind their No. 12 seeded visitors 3-1 after the top of the fifth.
Undeterred, Bates’ side plated five unanswered runs en route to a 6-3 win over their Tri-Valley foes.
“We’ve been talking to the team all year about how you handle adversity,” Bates said, crediting seniors John Mitchell, Colin Stace and Conor O’Hara for their leadership Friday night. “We bounced right back with three of our own [after Oneida took the lead].”
The Blue Devils received a solid start from Mitchell. The senior worked five innings of three-run baseball to pick up the win. Richie Paul pitched two scoreless innings of relief to earn the save.
“I just used my defense and let the bullpen take it,” Mitchell said.
O’Hara was a threat every time he touched base for the Blue Devils, going 2-for-3 with three steals and a run scored while driving in a pair of runs. Stace went 1-for-3, plating one run and scoring another, and Mitchell helped his own cause from the batter’s box, going 1-for-3 with an RBI.
Oneida starter Jorden Barlow surrendered three runs on two hits, two walks and five strikeouts in four innings of work.
Will Merrell led the Oneida bats, going 2-for-3 with two doubles and an RBI. Lukas Al
bro added two hits and a run scored for the visitors in the defeat.
“It comes down to situational baseball. We didn’t put the ball in the right spot when we had to,” Oneida coach Ryan Kramer said. “[Camden] is too good. They play a good brand of baseball.”
Barlow was dealing from the mound early, tossing three perfect innings to open the contest for Oneida.
Mitchell was nearly as effective, matching Barlow with three scoreless frames of his own though not without some dramatics. In each of the first three innings, Mitchell retired the first two Oneida batters he faced, but then put two aboard before coming back for the final out of the inning.
Inthe tophalf of the first, Merrell followed a Vinny Leibl single with a walk to put a runner in scoring position for Oneida. Mitchell answered by getting the next batter to ground out to Blue Devil third baseman Shallen Simpson.
Then, in the second, Mitchell issued back-toback walks with two outs before inducing a pop-up to Simpson at third to get out of the inning. After a twoout double to Merrell and then awalk to Ryan Chevier with two down in the third, Mitchell did it again. This time, the final out came on a soft liner to brother Eric Mitchell at second.
Following a 1-2-3 top of the fourth, the Blue Devils broke the stalemate in the bottom half of the inning. Eric Mitchell walked, stole second, stole third, and then scampered home on an overthrow at third base for a 1-0 Camden lead.
Oneida wasted no time answering back. Albro singled to lead off the inning, scoring two batters later via an error in right field on a fly ball by Leibl. Merrell followed with his second double of the night to plate Leibl and scored two batters later on contact by Alex Tooker, taking advantage of another Blue Devil miscue to put Oneida up 3-1.
The lead was short-lived, however. Tanner Young started things off with a walk, and O’Hara legged out an infield single to chase Barlow for Andrew Brown and put runners on the corners with no outs. An out later, Stace scored Young on a fielder’s choice to the left side of the infield, beating the throw home to trim into the Oneida lead. The Blue Devils tied the contest at 3-3 in the next at-bat when Simpson drove a sacrifice fly to right to send O’Hara home. Oneida appealed at third, thinking O’Hara left early, but the callwas upheld, much to the ire of the away crowd. When play resumed, John Mitchell smacked an RBI-single to help Camden retake the lead, 4-3.
“I had to settle down after the first strike and find that holewhere I could score a run,” Mitchell said of his approach.
The visitors threatened again in the top of the sixth when Albro greeted Paul with a one-out single. The Oneida speedster promptly stole second to move into scoring position, but Paul settled down to retire the next two batters to keep his team on top 4-3.
Camden added a pair of insurance runs in the bottom half of the inning on a two-RBI single by O’Hara.
Paul yielded a one-out single to Ryan Chevier in the top of the seventh before sitting down the next two batters to close out the 6-3 win.
“Just throw strikes and use my defense. Put no one on base for free,” Paul said of his mentality on the hill. “Oneida got the best of us the past few years, it feels great to get one on them and move on.”
Camden advances to a second round contest against No. 4 Skaneateles following the victory.
“That was a great high school baseball game,” Bates said. “Ryan is a good coach. Oneida is a good program. The Tri-Valley League is tough, we coaches talk about it all the time.”
Following the loss, Oneida bids farewell to five seniors: Bruce Joslyn, Albro, Leibl, Chevier and Barlow. The latter four had key roles during Oneida’s run to a Section III title as sophomores.
“They have done as much as any group has for Oneida baseball,” Kramer said. “I really cannot say enough. It has been a pleasure coaching them.”