ESG - Baseball
Western falls short of medal yet again
by JASON NADOLINSKI Reporter

Williamsville's Frank Polino warms up before a Western Region baseball game at the Empire State Games. Western finished 1-4 and did not take a medal. Photo by Marc A. Deley Purchase color photos at www.BeeNews.com

For a moment, it appeared that Michael Kazley's three-run home run in the seventh inning would allow Western's baseball team to at least end it's appearance at the

''30th annual Empire State Games on a positive note, but eventual gold medal winner Long Island had other plans.

Long Island, which trailed for the first time going into its last time at the plate, smacked a bases-loaded single through the gap between first and second to complete its two-run rally and hand Western its fourth loss of the five-game tournament, 8-7.

"That's a good team we played," said Western coach Bob Kowal, who is the former Maryvale varsity coach. "We battled back, but it was still a tough loss. It would have been really nice to have beaten one of the teams playing in the gold medal game, but that's life. One moment you're up, the next you're down ... it's how you react to it."

Western battled back from a 3-0 first-inning deficit Saturday at Manhattenville College with a pair of runs in the third inning. East Aurora resident Jonathan VanRemmen got things started when he reached first on a bunt, stole second and was driven in on a single. One more run was driven in before the final out to put the score at 3-2, where it would stay until the sixth inning.

Western switched pitchers in the sixth and Long Island took advantage with a solo home run and a bases-loaded two-run single to push its lead to 6-2. Shortly after is when Kazley's heroics came into play.

"We hit a lot of balls right at them this game," Kowal said. "Their center fielder had four consecutive catches, but we tagged those balls pretty good. We just needed more clutch hits as a whole over the series."

Western's only win of the tournament came on Friday morning at Pace University when Western,

riding the pitching performance of Elma's Matt Jimenez, defeated New York City, 7-0. Jimenez allowed seven hits for the game, but NYC was never able to put anything together to mount a serious scoring threat.

"This was a complete game for us," Kowal said. "We got some big hits and Matt pitched a real nice game for us. He got ahead of the count most of the time. He pitched hard and pitched smart. He beat me twice this year in high school. It was nice to be able to cheer for him."

"The fastball is what kept me in it," Jimenez said. "The changeup, curveball and slider were decent, but they weren't there (Friday). So, I just stuck with the fastball the whole game. They were just a little off, and the fastball was working."

Marcus Way gave Western all the offense it would need with his solo home run in the second inning, but Western wasn't satisfied, adding four runs in the fifth, along with single tallies in the fourth and sixth, to secure the outcome.

VanRemmen led the way for Western with three hits and two runs scored, while East Aurora resident and St. Mary's of Lancaster student Jesse Kelso had a hit and two RBIs.

Western began the tournament Thursday with a 4-2 loss to Adirondack. Western tried to put a rally together in the seventh inning, scoring both of its runs, but it wasn't enough to overcome Adirondack's earlier effort. Chase Grissom and Jonathan Schwind were Western's only players with multiple hits that game.

Western then had to turn around and play again just three hours later, and the Central team took advantage by pounding Western, 18-3. Western went through six pitchers over the course of the game and Central pretty much picked them all apart, lighting up the scoreboard with three runs in the second, nine in the fourth and five in the fifth, all on just 10 hits for the game.

Western, which collected just three hits and committed five errors for the game, scored two of its runs in the third. VanRemmen scored one of Western's three runs for the game.

Western then lost its Manhattenville College opener Friday afternoon, falling to Hudson Valley, 10-3. After Western had tied the game at 2-2 in its half of the third inning, Hudson Valley erupted for five runs to pull away for good. VanRemmen once again had a hit and run scored.

"We just made some key mistakes over the course of the tournament and teams took advantage of them," Kowal said. "We had some pitching meltdowns, but we also played three teams with good kids who have already committed to Clemson, St. John's and Virginia. We have good kids who work hard though."

Western finished the tournament 1-4 overall and remained in its medal slump that began after a three-year golden run from 2002-2004.