By PAUL GOTHAM
Friday’s rain created more than a few schedule changes over the weekend as Section V Baseball opened its 2024 postseason. Several higher-seeded teams were forced to travel and call a foreign diamond home for a day. With that in the past, teams move on to the quarterfinals with 12 games on Monday and a dozen more on Tuesday.
Eight games over the next two days feature opponents facing each other for the third time this season. None of those are more intriguing than the Class C1 matchup between Wayne County rivals Gananda and Sodus. Top-seeded Gananda swept the season series by the closest of margins with wins of 5-4 and 1-0. The Blue Panthers were forced to play on Sunday. Can they make a quick turnaround? These two teams have both won a sectional title in the past five years.
Not so close of combatants are Kendall and Alexander in Class C2 as well as Genesee Valley-Belfast and Andover-Whitesville in Class D. Kendall took two in Genesee Region play by a combined score of 24-0. Genesee Valley-Belfast had a 23-0 advantage on Andover-Whitesville in the regular season. In Class AA, Webster Schroeder will look make it three in row against Irondequoit. The Warriors won the previous meetings by scores of 13-3 and 9-3.
Pittsford Sutherland swept Eastridge (6-1/6-4). The Knights will look to continue that trend in the A quarters. In Class B, Wayland-Cohocton has already beaten Dansville twice (12-2/7-5). Bolivar-Richburg, the top seed in C2 has already beaten its quarterfinal opponent, Cuba-Rushford, on a pair of occasions (6-0/9-0), and Letchworth (Class C1) has outscored Warsaw, 22-2 in two wins this year.
Victor, the top seed in Class AA, will look to avenge a loss to Spencerport when the Blue Devils host the Rangers on Tuesday. Brighton will try to make it two wins over Hilton when the Bruins play host in the AA quarters.
Webster Thomas took a 3-2 decision over Greece Athena on May 15th. Athena grabbed the higher seed, though, and will host this AA tilt on Tuesday. The game features the last three Class A1 champions with Thomas winning back-to-back in 2021 and 2022 while Athena took last year’s crown.
At 20-0, East High enters the postseason as the only remaining undefeated team in Section V Baseball. The top-seeded Eagles will host No. 8 Palmyra-Macedon in the A quarterfinals. The last time these two programs met was 2003. Pal-Mac won that game 15-4. Prior to this year, the last Section V Baseball team to enter the playoffs undefeated? That would be Pal-Mac in 2022 when the Red Raiders went 24-0 before falling to Spacenkill (IX) in the NYS Class B semifinals. Pal-Mac has won three straight B1 championships.
Here’s the schedule for the next two days. As always check with schools prior to confirm game times and locations.
| Monday, May 20th |
| CLASS A |
| No. 8 Palmyra-Macedon (11-9) at No. 1 East High (20-0) 5:00 PM |
| No. 7 Eastridge (9-11) at No. 2 Pittsford Sutherland (14-6) 5:00PM |
| No. 11 Newark (7-13) at No. 3 Aquinas (14-6) 5:00 PM |
| No. 5 Honeoye Falls-Lima (10-9) vs. No. 4 School of the Arts (13-7) at Edison 5:00 PM |
| CLASS B |
| No. 8 Livonia (11-8) at No. 1 Wellsville (17-1) 5:30 PM |
| No. 7 Le Roy (14-5) vs. No. 2 Notre Dame-Batavia (17-1) at Dwyer Stadium 5:00 PM |
| No. 6 North Rose-Wolcott (14-4) at No. 3 Penn Yan (11-6) 5:00 PM |
| No. 5 Dansville (11-5) at No. 4 Wayland-Cohocton (14-6) 5:00 PM |
| CLASS D |
| No. 8 Andover-Whitesville (5-11) at Genesee Valley-Belfast (15-4) 5:00 PM |
| No. 10 Elba (4-14) at No. 2 Arkport-Canaseraga (11-3) 5:00 PM |
| No. 6 Naples (6-11) at No. 3 Fillmore (8-8) 5:00 PM |
| No. 5 Avoca-Prattsburgh (6-9) vs. No. 4 Lima Christian (7-9) at Bloomfield 5:00 PM |
| TUESDAY |
| CLASS AA |
| No. 8 Spencerport (11-9) at No. 1 Victor (15-5) 5:00 PM |
| No. 10 Irondequoit (9-11) at No. 2 Webster Schroeder (14-5) 7:00 PM |
| No. 6 Webster Thomas (12-8) at No. 3 Greece Athena (14-6) 5:00 PM |
| No. 13 Hilton (8-12) vs. No. 12 Brighton (8-12) at Buckland Park 5:00 PM |
| CLASS C1 |
| No. 8 Sodus (11-7) at No. 1 Gananda (17-2) 5:00 PM |
| No. 11 Pembroke (10-10) vs. No.3 Northstar Christian (12-3) at Grace and Truth Park 4:30 PM |
| No. 13 Wasrsaw (6-9) at No. 5 Letchworth (13-5) 4:45 PM |
| No. 15 Avon (3-13) at No. 10 East Rochester (11-9) 5:00 PM |
| CLASS C2 |
| No. 9 Cuba-Rushford (9-8) at No. 1 Bolivar-Richburg (18-2) 5:00 PM |
| No. 10 Perry (6-11) at No. 2 Honeoye (14-3) 5:00 PM |
| No. 6 Red Jacket (9-8) at No. 3 Geneseo (13-6) 5:00 PM |
| No. 5 Alexander (11-7) at No. Kendall (12-5) 5:00 PM |
| WEDNESDAY |
| Semifinals: Classes AAA, A, B, D |
| THURSDAY |
| Semifinals: Classes AA, C1 and C2 |
| FRIDAY |
| Finals: Classes AAA and A at Innovative Field |
| SATURDAY |
| Finals: Classes AA, B, C1 at Innovative Field |
| Finals: Classes C2 and D at Hornell |
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