By PAUL GOTHAM
BINGHAMTON, N.Y. — Shaun Caveny talked of winning championships when he took over Pittsford Mendon baseball prior to the 2023 season.
Lofty expectations for a program that hadn’t won a sectional title in more than two decades.
On Saturday afternoon at SUNY Binghamton, those words became a reality as the Vikings claimed the top spot in the state for the first time.
Junior right-hander Ethan Postle shrugged off an illness to throw 6 and 1/3 scoreless innings as Mendon (20-6) defeated reigning champion Maine-Endwell (14-10) of Section IV, 2-0 in the New York State Public High School Athletic Association (NYSPHSAA) Class A championship game.
“This is incredible,” Caveny said. “It’s all these kids. Everything that they have done for the last three years.”
One day after coming on in relief and escaping a bases-loaded jam, Postle struck out 12 and scattered six hits. He left runners on second and third in the second and bases loaded in the third. On both occasions, he retired the final batter of the inning on strikes.
“That’s really been Ethan all year long,” the third-year coach said. “That kid has been a bulldog for us.”
Postle retired 11 of 13 batters faced from the end of the third through the sixth.
“The first couple of innings was just fastballs,” he said. “I wasn’t feeling the curveball or changeup. As I settled in, started trusting the pitches more. Then everything started working.”
He accomplished this after enduring what he called a bout with “food poisoning” in the hours after Friday’s semifinal game.
“If Michael Jordan can do it when he’s sick, so can I,” he said with a smile referring to the “Flu Game” of the 1997 NBA Finals.
“He was sicker than a dog,” Caveny said. “That’s the flu game. That’s Michael Jordan’s flu game right there.”
Postle and the Vikings also had to withstand a partisan Maine-Endwell crowd.
With their school a 20-minute drive from the SUNY Binghamton campus, Maine-Endwell’s following filled more than half of the stadium.
A group of bare-chested, male students gathered behind the backstop and tried to distract Postle while he was pitching. Fans joined in unison with cheers that created a home environment for the Spartans.
Nothing seemed to rattle the young hurler.
“I just fed off their energy,” he said. “It boosted my energy and made me throw harder, made me feel more confident. It made me a better baseball player.”
One day after scoring seven runs, the Vikings managed to touch M-E starter Michael Jamba for four hits. Two of those came back-to-back with two outs in the fourth inning.
Cam Barbulean, the winning pitcher in Friday’s semifinal game, connected on a triple to left center to ignite Mendon in the fourth.
“It was a fastball, middle-up,” the Clarkson University commit said. “I just stayed through it and took it to left center. I put it in a spot where they weren’t. Their defense was really crisp today, but I put it in a spot where they weren’t.”
Aiden Lerner-Morelle followed with a line drive that barely eluded the outstretched glove of M-E sophomore shortstop, Braden Palmer.
“Stick with the plan and pass it to the next guy,” Caveny said of the approach at the plate. “Give the next guy the opportunity to get the job done, and he (Lerner-Morelle) did it. That’s what we’ve done all year long.”
Mendon added another run in the sixth.
Jack Albanese singled to start the frame and moved to second on a Noah Sansone sacrifice bunt. With an open base, Barbulean was intentionally walked. Again Lerner-Morelle delivered. This time his two-out RBI single scored Albanese from second.
“Super-proud of the boys,” Barbulean said. “Everyone trusted the process. Love this team. All of us bought in.”
Eli Charatz took over on the mound with two on base and one out in the seventh. The junior right-hander retired the only two batters he faced to register a save.
A year ago, Mendon exited after a second round defeat in the Class AA sectionals to Webster Thomas. They finished with a record of 8 wins and 13 losses.
Eight games into this season’s ledger, they were a .500 team. Even after a modest five-game winning streak in early May, the Vikings dropped a 13-0 decision to crosstown rival, Pittsford Sutherland.
They showed little resemblance of a team capable of ending its season with a win.
Since then, they haven’t lost. Saturday’s victory was the ninth straight.
Fittingly, the final out was a groundball to left side of the infield. Four-year starter Colden Forney handled the play with ease.
He hadn’t been to a sectional final in his previous three years as a starter, and here he was celebrating with his teammates after winning a state championship.
“Me and Jack Albanese after we got out of the dog pile, we looked at each other and said ‘What just happened?’ Two or three years ago, you would have never predicted this. Even at the start of this year, we did not think this was even possible. The coaches got everybody to buy in, everybody on the same page. We just found a way to win. That’s what we did all year.”
Pittsford Mendon athletics has known state championships for boys’ and girls’ soccer as well as girls’ basketball.
That trophy case just got a little more crowded.
“Baseball’s a part of that now,” Barbulean said.
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