Sweet Home still searches for first victory
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

With only a week and a half left in the regular season, Sweet Home is still looking for its first victory of the season.

The Panthers are 0-13 overall and 0-12 in ECIC Division I.

"Despite what's happened, the team is hanging in there and working hard," said Sweet Home coach Derek Zgoda. "We've been close to winning a few times in the last week or two. They just have to get over that hump. I'm proud of the way they've been able to maintain a good attitude throughout this adversity. I'm really pulling for them the rest of the season."

Sweet Home fell to Williamsville North, 10-0, on Monday, May 7, Lancaster, 9-3, on Wednesday, May 9, Jamestown, 11-2, on Thursday, May 10 and Frontier, 6-3 on Friday, May 11.

Sweet Home managed five singles off Williamsville North. Two came from John Graziano and the rest were from Craig Young, Corey Sykes and Aaron Klein.

The Panthers also hit only five times versus Lancaster. Two hits, a Sykes' single in the second and a Ryan Maxwell triple in the third, scored on a passed ball. Maxwell hit a sacrifice fly in the first for an RBI.

A Klein double and singles from Graziano and Mike Wolcott were the Panthers' other hits.

Travis Denman recorded the loss on the mound. Lancaster led 7-3 after the third and scored twice more in the sixth.

Jamestown used a six-run second to put the game out of reach early for Sweet Home. Derek Wiser scored on a Graziano RBI single in the first and Matt Pasternak reached base on a wild pitch and scored on a Young RBI single in the seventh.

Again, the Panthers managed only five hits. Graziano had two hits and Wiser, Maxwell and Young each had a single. After the Jamestown game, he was hitting .327. Maxwell was at .308.

Pitcher Casey Kacz recorded the loss.

Sweet Home almost closed out the week with a win, leading Frontier 1-0 going into the sixth but the Falcons scored six times in the sixth.

Graziano scored on a Sykes' RBI single in the fourth and led off with a triple and scored on a Young RBI in the sixth. Brandon Hudson scored on an error also in the sixth.

Wiser allowed three hits through the first five innings be- fore Frontier hit six times and scored six runs in the sixth.

Sweet Home played at Williamsville South on Monday, May 14 and at Hamburg on Tuesday, May 15 but results were unavailable before The Bee went to press. The Panthers host West Seneca West at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, May 16, and at 4:30 p.m. at Cheektowaga on Thursday, May 17, and Frontier on Friday, May 18. Sweet Home closes out the regular season at 4:30 p.m. at Lockport and Williamsville East on Monday, May 21 and Tuesday, May 22.

e-mail: pnagy@beenews.com