North baseball learns lesson for postseason
by PATRICK J. NAGY Reporter

Classic final held at Dunn Tire Park. Photo by John Rusac Purchase color photos at www.BeeNews.com

Williamsville North didn't crush the baseball as much as they have been, but they did learn a valuable lesson last week that will aid them in the Section VI Tournament later this week.

"We had to battle and that will get us ready for the playoffs," said North coach Jerry Scarcella. "When you score 18 runs and have 20 hits in games like we have been doing, there's no pressure. In the games last week, we had to do the little things right to win."

All of North's games were close. The Spartans opened with a 9-6 home win over Jamestown on Monday, May 14 and had to come from behind to defeat Clarence, 9-8, in nine innings on Wednesday, May 16 and 3-2 in eight innings over Williamsville South on Thursday, May 17. North's two losses were a 4-3 loss in 11 innings against Canisius at Delaware Park on Tuesday, May 15 and a 5-4 loss against Williamsville East at the Pepsi Center on Friday, May 18. North lost again to East, 6-5, on Monday, May 21.

The North-Jamestown game went back and forth. Jamestown took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning before the Spartans answered with two runs in the bottom of the second when Jared Fabian singled in Taylor Gahagen and Alex Barth.

In the fifth, Jamestown tied the score at 2-2 before North responded with four runs in the bottom of the inning. Max Zimmerman singled, scoring Austin Benschadle, John Ticco (2 for 4, two RBIs) doubled, plating Alex Calderon and Zimmerman, and Barth hit a sacrifice fly, bringing in Nick Fronczak.

Jamestown tied the game at 6-6 in the top of the sixth but in the bottom of the sixth, with two outs, Fronczak answered with a bases loaded triple to score three runs. Fronczak was 3 for 4 with a triple, double, and three RBIs.

Brad Stellrecht pitched 5.1 strong innings, allowing six hits, a couple earned runs, and four strikeouts. Ben Zwierchowski pitched the final 1.2 innings, allowing one run for the win.

North had 10 hits against Jamestown.

The Clarence game was the Robert E. Rich Memorial Baseball Classic final held at Dunn Tire Park and each team used wooden bats (usually use aluminum). It was the second time North had rallied to knock off the Red Devils. North trailed Clarence, 10-6, in the bottom of the seventh to win 11-10 in eight.

"It was a quality win," said Scarcella.

Much like the team's previous meeting North came back from a huge deficit with two outs to win. Trailing 8-5 with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, North scored four times to earn the victory. With runners on first (Barth walk) and second (Gahagan single), Pat Dwyer, with two strikes, fouled numerous pitches foul and wound up walking to load the bases. Fabian followed with a similar appearance to walk, scoring Gahagen. Calderon (2 for 3, two RBIs) then hit a deep sacrifice fly to score Barth and Zimmerman smacked a two-run single to score Dwyer and Fabian. Zimmerman finished 2 for 4 with two RBIs. Barth walked three times and was 1 for 2 with a single. As a team, North had eight hits.

"When we went down in the top of the ninth, the dugout got a little quiet," said Scarcella. "But when Dwyer walked to load the bases, everything changed. The kids said 'we're going to win the game'. They never quit."

North had leads of 4-0 and 5-1 before Clarence tied the game at 6-6 in the sixth. Three of Clarence's runs came from a bases loaded triple by Kris Gentzke.

Zwierchowski again registered the win in relief. Zach Boron threw eight innings and allowed six hits and struck out nine.

North used late game dramatics to defeat South. Trailing 2-0 with two outs in the seventh, Fabian and Benschadle singled and Calderon tripled in both to send the game into extra innings. In the top of the eighth, Barth singled, Garrett Crage walked and Geoff Stallman singled in Barth.

Matt Minervini doubled in Greg Reed in the second and Scott Steimer scored on an unearned run in the third for South's two runs.

North had 10 hits. Calderon was 2 for 4 with two RBIs. Fabian hit 2 for 4 with an RBI. Barth also hit 2 for 4.

A double by Greg McDermott and singles by Reed, Chris Couche, and Steimer were South's other hits.

Stellrecht pitched five innings in relief for his third win of the season. He allowed two hits, no walks, and struck out three batters. Steimer picked up the loss for South.

South coach Dave Delisanti lauded the defensive work of Ticco at third base. Delisanti said his team had the tying run on second but Ticco caught a line drive down the third base line from Andy Esposito and threw it to second base for a double play.

"If he doesn't catch it, we win the game," said Delisanti.

Overall, Delisanti was happy with his team's effort.

"We played good enough to win but they exposed a couple of our mistakes and beat us in the end," Delisanti said.

North's two losses were exciting. Against Canisius, Zimmerman, with a wooden bat, launched a 470-foot rocket in the tenth for a triple, but the Spartans could not bring him home. Canisius scored on a play at home plate in the bottom of the tenth to pick up the win.

North had trailed 3-1 before tying it in the sixth when Crage doubled in Zimmerman and Eric Dahlman.

Kevin Hughes picked up the loss for North.

Versus East, the Flames scored three runs in the top half of the seventh to go up 5-4.

Zach Miller led off with a single. Gary Styn laid down a bunt, Ticco tried to get Miller out at second, but he beat the throw. Kyle Smith then laid down a perfect bunt single to load the bases. Mike Zeoli followed with a two-run double to center, scoring Smith from third and Ferguson singled, scoring Zeoli.

In the bottom of the seventh, North plated two runs off Miller, who replaced starter Josh Dimarco. Jordan Karnath was summoned from the bullpen with the tying run on second and the winning run on first. He got pinch-hitter Dwyer to pop to short for the second out and struck out Steven Barth for the final out to earn the save.

Miller got credit for the win and is 7-0. Dahlman picked up the loss on the mound. North had 12 hits at the plate.

East also pulled off a triple play in the first, the third in school history. Zimmerman hit a hard line shot to Miller at third. Miller caught the ball, stepped on third and fired to second baseman Nick Kanutsu for the final out. It was East's ninth straight win.

East never trailed in the rematch, but the score was tied at 1-1, 2-2 and 3-3. East scored three runs in the sixth on hits by Miller, Zeoli and Kanutsu to go up 6-3.

North answered with a two-run home run by Zimmerman to cut East's lead to 6-5. Karnath, in relief, retired Ticco on a groundout to short and earned the victory, pitching 1.2 innings of starter Mark Guenther.

Benschadle (1 for 3), Calderon (1 for 4), and Zimmerman (2 for 4, home run, two RBIs) hit for North. Stellrecht recorded the loss.

East swept North and Williamsville South this season.

East's other game played last week was a 7-4 win over Orchard Park on Thursday, May 17.

The Flames trailed 4-3 in the sixth but scored four times to take a 7-4 lead. Zeoli (.471) and Kanutsu (.500) paced the Flames' nine-hit attack with three hits each. Kanutsu also had four RBIs.

Karnath pitched the first four innings and Guenther threw the last three for East. Guenther picked up his third victory of the season, pitching three scoreless innings and yielding only one hit.

North (17-5, 13-1), ECIC I champs and East (17-4, 9-3) plays yet-to-be-determined opponents in the Section VI playoffs later this week.

e-mail: pnagy@beenews.com