Baseball

Run and gun

Execution is the key as Burke sweeps Sullivan West in series and wins Division IV

By RICHARD A. ROSS

JEFFERSONVILLE, NY ? Great baseball starts with exceptional pitching and nearly flawless defense. As Sullivan West and Burke approached their crucial three-game series to vie for the lead in Division IV this past week, Bulldog coach Kurt Scheibe and Burke coach Adam Kless knew there would be little margin for error.

With their best hurlers on the mounds, the two fine teams wrote another chapter in one of Section Nine’s most intense rivalries. From season to season and year after year, Bulldogs against Eagles translates into great competition and high-stakes play.

This week’s baseball match ups lived up to that standard.

After Burke took game one by a slim 3-2 margin, handing Sullivan West its second league loss of the season, the ante was raised for game two. In the opener, both teams got stellar pitching. Sullivan West’s Jim Moloney tossed a four hitter and went two-for-three at the plate, only to lose by one run for the third straight year. Two of Burke’s three runs were unearned and Moloney once again had no ‘W’ to attest for another fine outing.

Burke got what it needed from its ace John Commins, a solid six-hit outing to counteract Moloney’s nine-strikeout classic. But the Eagles played their trump card in executing fine defense: the requisite counterweight to fine pitching that is often the difference between winning and losing close games.

That Burke win put the two teams in a deadlock for the Division lead. Burke had lost two-of-three games to Liberty earlier in the season, but has been perfect in league play ever since. It was the second straight league loss for the Bulldogs, who lost a one-run squeaker at O’Neill last week.

Game two featured another fine pitching duel.

Sullivan West lefty Logan Grishaber took to the hill and pitched his heart out. Burke countered with a stellar outing from Conor Sullivan. It was clear from the outset that this was going to be a low-scoring affair and the victory would belong to the team that could execute well in defense and on the base paths as well.

And that is exactly where this game was won and lost. Heads-up play enabled Burke to gun down four Bulldogs on the base paths, erasing threats in two innings and backing up Sullivan’s four-hit gem.

Both pitchers hurled a pair of scoreless innings and were backed by good leather at the outset. Burke shortstop Mike Casabona demonstrated his awesome range and his gun-of-an-arm as he made two stellar plays to throw out Sullivan West’s Garrett Owen and Grishaber in the first inning. Casabona’s play forms the nexus of Burke’s superior infield play. As the game played out, it came as little surprise that Casabona would be front and center in the plays that would swing this game into Burke’s win column.

Still the game was scoreless until the top of the third. Grishaber struck out two batters to end the second, but yielded a leadoff single to Casabona in the third. In the first of a seemingly endless series of bang-bang plays, Casabona safely stole second, as a high throw took shortstop Brad Reimer aloft just as Casabona slid into the bag. Reimer came down with the tag, but the umpire ruled Casabona safe amid the rising dust.

It was a very close call.

Mike Murphy worked out a walk and Grishaber induced a pair of fly outs and looked ready to escape any damage, but an E-5 loaded the bases. Sullivan stepped up to the plate in support of his pitching effort and banged a two-run single to give Burke the early lead.

The Bulldogs’ first threat came in the bottom of the frame as Greg McArthur walked and Jesse Fadis reached on a perfect bunt to give the Dawgs two ducks on the pond with no one out.

Owen hit a sharp liner, which Casabona snagged. The deft shortstop then rifled a throw to first and doubled Fadis off.

Close call number two.

Sullivan induced a ground out from Grishaber and Burke kept the shutout intact.

Grishaber bore down and put up zeroes in the fourth and fifth.

Meanwhile, Sullivan West got one run in the bottom of the fourth inning, capitalizing on a rarified E-6 that allowed Moloney to reach safely. An ensuing E-5 off the bat of Mark Tesseyman would have given the Dawgs two on with no out. Unfortunately, Tesseyman was caught off the bag on a perfect two-six throw.

Chris Story’s inside-out single to right scored Moloney, but Story was erased from first in another bang-bang play as Sullivan whirled and fired a strike to first baseman Eric Halahan.

Reimer, who had come up with two on and no one out, now stood at the plate with no one on and two out. He walked, but Sullivan struck out Freebes to end the inning.

Burke led 2-1 in runs and had a four-zip lead in base path grades, counting Casabona’s steal and the three Bulldogs (all first-year varsity players) who were gunned down.

The Bulldogs kept trying to get that one priceless run to tie the game, but instead yielded an unearned run in the sixth. After Grishaber struck out Steve Ferrazzara and Chris Undersinger to start the frame, Casabona singled and scored on a pair of errant throws, an E-1 and an E-8. Murphy flied out to end the inning.

Grishaber led off the sixth with a single, but was doubled off first by Casabona, who caught a liner off of Tesseyman’s bat and fired to first to erase Grishaber to end the inning.

The heat finally took its toll on Grishaber, who walked John Conroy. Reimer came on and quickly got a double play as he caught a pop up from Anthony VanCuren and doubled off pinch runner J.C. Villaroel. Hallahan grounded out and the Dawgs came up for last licks.

Story led off with a single, but Reimer flew out to left. Freebes worked out a walk from an 0-2 hole to put the tying runs on base and the winning run at the plate, but shockingly Story was picked off, the fourth victim on the base paths. McArthur’s ground out ended the game. Burke 11-5 (8-2 OCIAA) was thrust to the top of the Division IV heap and Sullivan West (9-4, 7-3 OCIAA) received its third consecutive league loss. Burke completed the series sweep with a resounding 11-4 win on May 18. It was the Eagles’ fourth straight Division IV title as they improved their record to 12-5 (9-2 OCIAA). Both teams have one more to play with O’Neill, which lost to Liberty for the second straight day. Liberty has already qualified for sectionals, as have Sullivan West and Burke.

The Eagles won the Section 9 crown a year ago.

Following the game, Kless said, “I told my team from day one if you execute well, you’re going to be fine.” Kless explained that his trip to the mound during the Bulldogs’ seventh inning was merely to reassure Sullivan. “He’s a competitor,” noted the coach. “His two hits and two-run single were key in the Eagles’ winning effort.”

“There were a lot of close plays in this game,” Kless said, whose team responded well to its early season series loss to Liberty. “Our focus as a team is level-headed. We never get down.” Kless described Casabona as the team’s general on the field. “He has carried us all year defensively. He’s the general out there communicating with people, telling them what to do and where to be. He’s the captain of the team and the leader of the team on and off the field.”

Scheibe said, “We didn’t execute well enough to win today. They executed and made plays and got hits when they needed to and we didn’t. Logan did a great job. We had major base-running mistakes, all by first-year varsity players. You can work on these things a lot in practice, but in game situations things can be different. We’re not getting the key hits when we really need them.”

Expect Sullivan West to put these tough losses behind them and to approach the remaining regular-season games and the post season with great intensity. The same goes for Burke.

Anything less from these two fine squads would fly in the face of their storied rivalry.

Visit riverreportersports.com for an album of pictures from game two of the series.

But the feisty Bulldogs refused to go away. In the bottom of the fourth, Lander singled and Julianne Reggero laid down a perfect sac bunt. An E-4 led to the run and the teams were knotted at three apiece.

Both teams managed to get runners in scoring positions, but fine pitching and excellent defense kept them from scoring.

In the bottom of the ninth, Niemann led off by drawing a walk. Stephanie Meyer hit a single and Houghtaling walked to load the bases. No run scored on Davies’ long fly to right, as Niemann was halfway down the line when the ball was hit and had to go all the way back to the bag to tag up.

But Lander’s walk plated the final run, despite a game-ending discussion initiated by the Burke coaches, who protested that Sullivan West runners had not touched the bags before leaving the field. That was resolved in Sullivan West’s favor and the game ended with the Lady Bulldogs improving their record to 5-8 (1-2 OCIAA).

Sullivan West has one game remaining with O’Neill, but lost its first game to Liberty 4-2. They need to win the rematches with Liberty and O’Neill to make it to the post season. Burke finishes its season with a non-league game against Minisink Valley this coming week. The Lady Eagles are 10-9 (6-1 OCIAA).

Last year, Burke lost in the second round of the regionals by the score of 5-0 to eventual Class B state champion Susquehana Valley from Binghamton. Douthit and company hope that the loss against Sullivan West will foster an even greater intensity as sectionals approach.

As for Ellmauer, who felt elated but cautious, this win could be a forerunner of good things to come for his team that is beginning to play the kind of ball he felt they were always capable of.

After all, if you can beat Burke, anything is possible.

Visit riverreportersports.com for an album of game photos.