By PAUL GOTHAM
WALWORTH, N.Y. — Members of the Gananda baseball team counted the days to Thursday’s Wayne County matchup.
On the line was a chance to avenge a season-opening loss. The Blue Panthers didn’t waste the opportunity.
Lucas Ciprich hurled 6.1 innings and Sam O’Neil highlighted a decisive fifth-inning rally as Gananda defeated Williamson, 4-3.
“This was the game that everybody circled on the calendar to come back to,” O’Neil said referring to Gananda’s 5-3 loss to Williamson earlier in the month. “We wanted to win this one.”
O’Neil snapped a 1-1 tie in the fifth inning with a triple that scored Ciprich.
“I hadn’t been hitting well the last couple games, so I was just going up there thinking right center,” he said. “I just caught the barrel and it felt really clean off the bat. I knew it was over his head, so I got on my horse and started moving.”
O’Neill scored on a wild pitch. Patrick Walsh walked and came home on Shane Pickering double for a 4-1 Gananda lead.
“Their pitcher was throwing the ball really well,” Gananda head coach Bill McClare said of Williamson starter Matt DeFisher. “We just saw a little crack and the guys put together some good at-bats to put a couple on the board.”
Ciprich worked his longest outing of the season. The junior right-hander struck out the side in order in the first inning and eventually retired 17 of the first 18 batters he faced.
“He was outstanding,” McClare said of his starter. “His breaking ball was on, just had them off-balance all day.”
Ciprich struck out 13 without issuing a walk. His only free pass of the day was a hit batter in the sixth inning.
“He keeps it down and he throws it in hitters’ counts,” McClare said of Ciprich’s breaking ball. “He’s behind 2-and-O, and he’ll come with the breaking ball for a strike and get himself back into an at-bat.”
He improved to 4-0 on the season.
Ciprich deflected praise on to O’Neill, his battery mate.
“Sam was setting up great spots,” he said of his catcher. “It was a matter of hitting them. Curves were working a lot.”
DeFisher singled and scored in the second to give Williamson an early lead.
Gananda knotted the game in the fourth. TJ Hathaway started the stanza with a base hit and eventually scored on an Aidan Giancursio base hit.
Williamson used a two-out rally to push across a run in the sixth. Patsy Catalano reached on an error, and Austin Steurrys put runners on the corners with a single. Catalano came home as part of a double steal.
The Marauders threatened again in the seventh. Alan Bouwens led with a single and stole second and scored on a Tim Vos single.
Williamson fell to 5-4 with the loss and will play at Marion on Friday.
Thursday’s win was the eighth straight for Gananda (12-2)
Ciprich finished 2-for 2 at the plate with two walks. O’Neil was 2-for-4. Walsh singled and walked three times. Giancurso was 2-for-3. Dylan Dohse and Andrew Gleason added a single apiece.
O’Neil traded battery roles and recorded the final two outs of the game for the save.
Gananda hosts Lyons on Friday.
Leave a Reply