BINGHAMTON — The Oriskany baseball team played in a state championship game last spring. The Skyhawks were much happier with the results from this year’s return engagement.
“This is what we wanted from Day 1,” junior Eddie Wright said following Saturday’s 9-2 victory over North Warren at Mirabito Stadium. “This was our goal, and we did it with the best bunch of guys I could ask for. We’re all a family.”
“This feels so much better that getting all the way here and losing,” he added.
That’s what happened one year ago when Arkport/Canaseroga took the championship plaque home to western New York after shutting Oriskany out 4-0 in the final.
The Skyhawks have focused on that for 12 months. They compiled a 19-1 record through a rainy spring, winning their final 18 games in succession and earning a third consecutive Section III championship along the way.
“We’ve been working really hard,” said Chase Koenig, the winning pitcher Saturday, and one of five seniors on the Oriskany roster. “We made it back to the state finals, and we’re the first team from our school to win it.”
Oriskany was also a Class D finalist in 2012.
Playing as the visiting team, the Skyhawks took a lead in the top of the first inning, taking advantage of four walks while putting only one ball in play. Matt Kernan bunted with the bases loaded and leadoff hitter Nick Hays beat the throw home with the first run of the game. Koenig later pushed a run home with his bases-loaded walk.
North Warren right-hander Wyatt Jennings walked the bases loaded to start the game, but he did strike out the side in the first before swapping spot with lefty Owen Scheafer at first base in the second inning. Scheafer would pitch three innings before the pair switched back for the last three.
Oriskany added two runs in the second against Scheafer, the first on a sacrifice fly by Hays, and the second with heads-up and aggressive base-running by Wright, who singled after Hays flew out. Wright had already stolen second base when he took off for third on a lazy throw back to the mound by the Cougars (15-6-1). The startled Scheafer rushed an errant throw to third, allowing Wright to round the corner and continue home.
“That’s Eddie’s baseball IQ,” Oriskany coach Eric Enos said. “He saw they were not paying attention and wanted to give it a try. He was right.”
“Sometimes it works,” Wright quipped in the background.
The Skyhawks tacked on four more runs and chased Scheafer in the fourth after North Warren scored its first run in the bottom of the third.
Chase Koenig struck out 13 batters and walked one through six innings before Dean Koenig, his younger brother, pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the seventh to close out the win. Chase Koenig shifted to first base and fielded a ground ball for the final out.
“This is awesome, like nothing I’ve ever felt,” Enos said. “What gets better than this?”
This article originally appeared on Times Telegram: New York crowns Oriskany as Class D baseball champion