Class D baseball final

Lions oust Yellowjackets in thrice-postponed final

Delays may have taken their toll on Prunka and the rest of the YellowjacketS

By RICHARD A. ROSS

LIBERTY, NY — At long last, Eldred and Chapel Field got to resume their rain-delayed Class D title game on June 4. The game, which had already been postponed from its slated start date of May 31 at soggy Baxter Stadium, had a short shelf life when it started on June 1.

Rescheduled for June 3 at Liberty,the game resumed with Chapel Field’s Daryl Gros batting with teammate Zac Menendez on second base in the bottom of the first inning. Gros got things going with an RBI single off a letter-high fastball thrown by Eldred ace Mike Prunka, and Chapel Field was on its way to a convincing 10-1 victory and a repeat capture of the Class D baseball title.

The loss ended the Yellowjackets’ season and dashed hopes of adding a baseball title to complement the football titles the school had won in the fall and the track titles it garnered this spring.

The Lions used fine pitching by Gros, timely hitting and good defense to advance into the state tournament.

Gros kept the potentially lethal Eldred bats at bay. He fired a five-hitter and struck out four. It seemed that when Eldred batters did make contact, they found Chapel Field’s defense to be impeccable. The Lions had used the intervening rainy days to run through fielding drills on Chapel Field’s own wet field. Clearly, the practice paid off.

Prunka, who is arguably one of the best pitchers in the area, was hit early and often. Pitchers are creatures of habit and some don’t fare well with a long layoff. That did not seem to be the case for Gros.

Chapel Field got its second run in the third inning before breaking out for five more in the fourth as Mark Schaper, Mike Sofia, Jason Aquirre, Menendez and John Canazon scored amid a flurry of Chapel Field hits. The Lions sent eight men to the plate in the inning. They tacked on three runs in sixth.

Eldred got its lone run in the fifth inning off an RBI single from Nick McCormick. Gros went two-for-three and drove in three runs to help his cause. Andrew Lopez and Mark Schaper had two hits apiece in the winning effort.

The victory for Chapel Field (16-5) was their ninth in a row and propelled the Lions into an opening round rematch against Section One’s Solomon Schecter. The game was scheduled to be played at SUNY New Paltz on June 6. Last year, Chapel Field succumbed to Solomon Schecter 6-5 in the first round of the state tournament.

Prunka will play for Sullivan County Community College this fall. He will be joined there by local standouts, including Mike Cook and Casey Pazzalia of Liberty, and Chris Gates of Fallsburg, who was scheduled to sign a NJCAA letter of intent on June 7 to play for the Generals in the upcoming season.

Eldred ended its season with a record of 5-8.