Baseball

Bulldogs’ division hopes go south after losses to O’Neill

By RICHARD A. ROSS

JEFFERSONVILLE, NY—After losing two out of three games against John S. Burke Catholic last week, Sullivan West was hoping to knock off Division IV leader James I. O’Neill in a crucial three-game series. Another division loss for the Bulldogs would essentially eliminate the team from recapturing the Division IV title.

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Last year the Bulldogs seemed to get the breaks when they needed them, but things have not been breaking right in 2004.

“All the breaks we got last year are coming back to hurt us,” Sullivan West coach Kurt Scheibe, Jr. said. And the misfortune continued as the Bulldogs squandered leads in the second and third games against O’Neill’s Raiders, leaving the young men with only sectionals to fight for.

‘Biggy’ is huge in opener against Raiders

Strike one makes all the difference for Ryan “Biggy” Taylor of Sullivan West. Like most pitchers, he wants to get ahead of batters, and that is exactly what he did May 5 against Division IV leaders James I. O’Neill. Striking out 11 batters and relying on his curve ball, changeup and fastball, Taylor varied speeds and planes, keeping the O’Neill hitters off balance inning after inning.

It was a stark contrast to Taylor’s previous outing against John S. Burke Catholic when he got behind batters and had to throw his fastball over the plate to get strikes. The Eagles found the fastballs appetizing, smacking them to the far reaches of Lion’s Field.

In the first inning against O’Neill’s Raiders, Taylor fanned leadoff hitter Ben DeAngelis, and then got Dan Strang on strikes before inducing an inning-ending groundout. O’Neill never really raised a serious threat all afternoon.

In the bottom of the second inning, Joe Meyer led off with a single and promptly stole second. A single by Lloyd Shaffer brought Meyer to third. Mike Barrett’s fly out scored Meyer. After Garrett Owen singled, the Bulldogs left two on base when Ed Raum flied out.

Taylor continued to mesmerize the Raiders in the top of the third. The Bulldogs’ offense plated three runs in the bottom of the inning, giving Sullivan West a 4-0 lead that would stand up for the rest of the game. Billy Nordenhold blasted a home run to deep right to start the inning. His ebullient teammates met him at home plate for high fives. Taylor walked and Matt Berger singled, which drove Taylor to third. Meyer’s fly out scored a run. Steve Daley’s ground out plated the third run.

After his team scored, Taylor showed his mettle on the mound by striking out the side in the top of the fourth. Maintaining a low pitch count, Biggy continued his dominance and preserved the shut out, giving the Bulldogs a leg up in the series while handing O’Neill its first Division IV loss of the year. Mike Cronin and Billy Sable managed the only two hits allowed by Taylor. The Bulldogs improved their record to 4-5 (2-2 OCIAA) while the Raiders fell to 5-4 (2-1 OCIAA).

Raiders steal a win with seventh inning rally

HIGHLAND FALLS, NY – In a match up featuring Bobby Dodge of O’Neill versus Will O’Brien of Sullivan West, the two teams went at it again.

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The Bulldogs got on the board first in the top of the second inning after Dodge issued a two-out walk to Lloyd Shaffer. Mike Barrett scored him with a double. O’Neill came back with three runs off O’Brien in the bottom of the frame. Neither team could plate any runs in the third, but the Bulldogs got it going in the fourth. Joe Meyer singled and Steve Daley followed up with a towering home run. O’Neill got one run back in the bottom of the fourth and the Raiders held on to a slim 4-3 lead. After a scoreless fifth inning, Daley unleashed another round-tripper after Meyer walked. The homerun gave the Bulldogs a 6-5 lead.

Matt Berger came on in relief of O’Brien and got out of the sixth inning. In the bottom of the seventh, Mike Cronin took advantage of a hanging curveball to hit a game-tying home run off Berger. With two outs, Alex Travis reached second on a dropped fly ball. A fielder’s choice got him to third and he scored on a ground-ball error to give O’Neill the win and a tie in the series. Dodge (2-1) got the win for the Raiders who improved to 6-4 (3-1 OCIAA) while the Bulldogs slipped to 4-6 (2-3 OCIAA).

‘Dawgs’ squander early lead and strand 10 as season hopes diminish

HIGHLAND FALLS, NY – In the final game of the series, the Bulldogs got out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning. Billy Nordenhold led the way with a single off Travis Judd. He stole second and scored on a single by Matt Berger. Joe Meyer singled and Steve Daley hit a double scoring both Berger and Meyer.

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Unfortunately, the Bulldogs could not capitalize on other scoring opportunities. They left bases loaded in the fourth and fifth innings. In all, they stranded ten base runners.

In the third inning, the Bulldogs had first and third with no outs. After Joe Meyer took a third strike looking, Daley bounced into an inning-ending double play. It was just that kind of day.

Ben DeAngelis had four hits for the Raiders and Billy Sable had three as O’Neill racked up another win, bringing the Raiders’ record to 7-4 (4-1 OCIAA). O’Neill scored two in the third inning and two in the fourth to take the lead and three more in the fifth to put the game out of reach. The Bulldogs limped home nursing a surprising record of 4-7 (2-4 OCIAA). Matt Berger took the loss for the Bulldogs. He pitched five innings.

“We’ll need a sweep of Liberty this week or two out of three plus a non-league win over Livingston Manor or Notre Dame to make sectionals,” Scheibe said. “Sectionals are a brand new season. The trick is getting there.”