Charlie Karstedt
Assistant, New York 

Orchard Park at West Seneca West Game Recap

On a sunny day in Buffalo we saw a Class AA league game contest against a WSW team that has surprised oppositions all year and pulled off some good upsets thus far. Orchard Park came into the game slightly underachieving in regards to their top 5 in New York State ranking to begin the season.  Though they’ve had solid outings from their pitching staff, a lineup of hitters who could be expected to produce double digit runs on most days, has been held in check much of the season.  

The battery for Orchard Park consisted of Senior RHP (Coppin State) commit Jacob Lewis and unsigned senior Kevin Kozial behind the dish.  West sent senior RHP (Jamestown CC) commit Peyton Gattie to the mound to throw to strong bodied sophomore backstop Connor Reilander. In the top of the first Orchard Park wasted no time putting 3 runs up.

Senior 3b, (Buffalo) commit Jeff Palczewski led things off with a single and soon came around to score on a Troy Banks single. 2017 OF, Cole Hollins and Kevin Kozial each drove in runs as well. Gattie didn’t get the necessary help early on as Orchard Park was able to get some runners on and around on hard ground ball errors in the infield. Midway through the game Hollins opened things up ripping a line drive single scoring 2 more. He later ripped and RBI double deep to the gap.  That was the nail in the coffin for the Indians as they were not able to plate but 1 run through 7 innings.  Lewis shined on the mound showing command of 3 pitches. His fastball sat 82-86 early. He added in a 75-mph changeup and a 71-mph breaking ball with late slurve action. Offensively Palczewski and Hollins both led the way with multi-hit games, showing why they’re two of the top bats in western new york right now.

Orchard Park may not have started the season off as hot as we may have expected but with a pitching rotation of senior led arms, Ben Wereski (Columbia U), Brandon Weber (Gannon U), and Jacob Lewis (Coppin State), along with a strong hitting lineup that is starting to come to life, the Quakers could still make a long run in the playoffs if things click at the right time.