Prep Baseball Report

Hamburg Vs. Orchard Park: Game Recap



Dan Cevette
Director, New York

Charlie Karstedt
Buffalo Area Scout

Hamburg 3 - Orchard Park 2

Hamburg traveled down the road to take on the #1 team in Class AA and the #1 team in New York State.  Though Hamburg holds the #1 spot in class A Orchard Park has proved to be basically unbeatable up until this point.  Senior Binghamton U commit Cameron Ringo and the rest of the Bulldogs had their sites set on being the first to knock off the Quakers and they did just that.  In what was set up to be a pitchers dual right from the start, the arms on both sides did not disappoint.  Ringo took the mound for the Bulldogs while Senior Canisius commit Andrew Sipowicz toed the rubber for the Quakers.

Ringo threw 5 innings of shut out ball striking out 10.  He had command of 4 pitches today but was especially successful with his 2 seam and slider combination that the OP lineup could not figure out.  Throughout his 10 strikeouts Ringo put many hitters down looking at both his slider and curveball.  Sipowicz was no slouch himself allowing only 1 run in his 4 innings of work before being relieved by Jr. LHP Ben Wereski and then Jr. RHP Jacob Lewis.

For Hamburg in the first, Austin Oshei singled up the middle to get things going but was soon gunned down by senior catcher and Fredonia State commit Luke Kuczewski.  In the second Senior David Edie led off with a walk.  Junior standout Griff Demayo hit a ball deep to left center which looked to be going out of the park before Mark Lauria came up with a spectacular catch at the wall robbing Demayo of what was sure to be an RBI double at least.  The Quakers were able to squash any chance of a rally in the first two innings.  However, in the top of the 4th Ringo battled at the plate and worked a walk after fouling off at least 5 balls.  David Edie came up big with a line shot over the centerfielders head scoring Ringo.  After a single by Reilly and a hit by pitch, Hamburg threatened with bases loaded but Sipowicz was able to work out.  Ringo made quick work in the bottom half striking out the side.  In the 5th Ben Wereski took over on the mound.  Senior Jake Mertowksi led off the inning with a single up the middle for Hamburg.  After a passed ball, and intentional walk of Ringo, and an infield single by Edie, Griff Demayo had another chance to come up big for the Bulldogs.  Demayo drove a shot again deep to left center hopping the wall and scoring two on a ground rule double.  This put Hamburg up 3-0 heading to the 6th. 

Ringo was relieved by Justice Hoffman after 5 innings of scoreless work.  Hoffman gave up an infield single followed by an RBI triple by Luke Kuczewski.  This started what looked to be a potential rally for the Quakers but when Sophomore Troy Banks ripped a shot to short, O'Shei was able to come up with a great pick to end the inning.  Heading into the bottom of 7 OP still trailed 3-1 but the Quakers were much too strong to go down without a fight.  With two outs, senior NCCC commit Brandon Nicholson smoked a double.  Austin Bristol then reach on a throwing error at shortstop which scored Nicholson cutting the Bulldog lead to 1 with Jr. Jeff Palczewski.  Palczewski has been one of the hottest hitters in Western New York this season and gave the Bulldogs a scare as he drove a ball to the warning track in left.  The ball was caught however, and Hamburg hung on to hand Orchard Park their first loss of the season.

This was a great game for any true baseball fans.  Both sides showed great pitching, some tremendous defensive plays and timely hitting.  Each showed why they are the class of their divisions and the favorites to do some damage come playoff time.  No one will be surprised to see both of these two teams battling in their respective classes for section titles and then some, starting next week when playoffs start.

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