SYRACUSE — New Hartford’s first two batters singled to start Section III’s Class A baseball championship game Monday night. Everything pretty much went downhill from there for the Spartans.
Luke VanMarter struck out the next batter then ended the first inning with a double play grounder as he combined with Griffon Filighera to shut the Spartans out on two more hits in a 13-0 victory for the Jamesville-DeWitt Red Rams, who earned a third consecutive title at Onondaga Community College.
“They played very well,” New Hartford coach Kevin Green said of the Red Rams, adding, “we had a young group that overachieved, and this is something to build on.”
Anthony Ricciardiello, Jamesville-DeWitt’s leadoff hitter, was hit by a pitch to start the bottom of the first, advanced on a wild pitch and scored on a single by the second batter, Eamon Giblin. The Red Rams (17-2) added a run as a force play produced the second out. A quick pitching change by the Spartans (13-4) followed, and three more runs scored, and Jamesville-DeWitt led 5-0 with five runs on three hits in the first inning.
Four more Red Rams scored in the third, a hitless inning that started with a third strike on a pitch in the synthetic dirt that skipped through to the wall at the base of the backstop and included five walks and a throwing error.
Jamesville-DeWitt led 9-0 on three hits. A two-out single by Spartan Johnny Vitullo with two outs in the top of the fourth was the first hit for either team after the first inning.
Jack Taylor, the fourth New Hartford pitcher, shut the Red Rams down for the fifth and sixth innings before they struck again for four more runs, three on an inside-the-park home run by Samuel Ashe on a high fly ball to center field that appeared to get lost in the lights with two outs.
VanMarter retired 10 consecutive batters following the hits by Peyton Way and Joseph Mungari to start the game. He struck out eight batters, walked one and hit one through six scoreless innings, and Filighera pitched a 1-2-3 seventh.Ashe had two of the eight Jamesville-DeWitt hits and drove in four runs. Ryan Walker also had two hits, walked, scored three runs and drove in two. Dylan Bertollini singled, walked twice and scored three times, and Filighera crossed the plate twice.
Luke Lafayette had a hit in addition to those by Mungari, Vitullo and Way for the Spartans (13-4), who entered the championship game with eight consecutive victories.
New Hartford had advanced to Monday’s game with a 6-1 semifinal win over Cortland that dodged Saturday’s rain. Sophomore Ashton Palmer pitched six hitless innings, striking out eight batters and walking one on 71 pitches, a total that left him available to pitch again Monday. Palmer was the first of four relievers to follow starter Byron Thornley to the mound against Jamesville-DeWitt.
The state Class A playoffs will return the Red Rams to the college Thursday for a sub-regional against Section II champion La Salle Institute of Troy, with that winner hosting another game Saturday against the Section I champion.
This article originally appeared on Times Telegram: Jamesville-DeWitt defeats New Hartford to claim third consecutive Class A baseball title
Reporting by Jon Rathbun, Herkimer Times Telegram / Times Telegram
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
