Cazenovia baseball’s Donlin throws no-hitter

By PHiL BLACkWELL

About the best way for the Cazenovia baseball team to answer Westhill pitcher Ryan Campbell throwing a no-hitter against them in their April 27 showdown was to do the exact same thing itself.

And it was Jack Donlin, the other pitcher in Campbell’s gem, that would achieve this milestone in last Thursday’s game against Homer at Gutchess Field in Cortland, shutting out the Trojans 6-0.

Unlike in the Westhill game, Donlin got clean defense behind him whenever it was needed, though it wasn’t often as the Cazenovia senior piled up 15 strikeouts and only surrendered three walks.

All of the Lakers’ runs came in the first three innings – a run in the first, two runs in the second and a three-run rally in the bottom of the third.

Taven Reilley led the attack as he singled, doubled and drove in two runs. Jacob Szalach and Nico Segall had two hits apiece, Segall scoring twice as Jack Byrnes, Jacob Grevelding and Dan Bliss also drove in runs.

Rained out against Bishop Ludden on April 29, the Lakers had to move last Tuesday’s game with Bishop Grimes to Gutchess Field, where it had to hang on for an 8-7 win over the Cobras.

Grimes got to Byrnes twice in the second inning and three times in the third to grab a 5-1 lead, but the Lakers quickly regained the lead with a three-run third and four-run rally in the fourth.

Down 8-5, the Cobras closed the gap to one in the fifth, but Byrnes blanked Grimes the rest of the way, overcoming three walks and four errors to strike out 11 and allow just four hits.

At the plate, Grevelding and Szalach led the way, each going three-for-four and producing a pair of RBIs. Donlin added two hits and scored three times, leading to his masterpiece against Homer.

With Saturday’s game against Clinton postponed, on Tuesday Cazenovia is scheduled to be back home for a showdown with Christian Brothers Academy before going to Mexico on Thursday.

Cazenovia teammates Jack Donlin (left) and Jack Byrnes both won on the mound last week, with donlin throwing a no-hitter with 15 strikeouts to beat Homer 6-0 and Byrnes pitching a complete game to defeat Bishop Grimes 8-7.