SECTION IV BASEBALL: MISCUES COSTLY AS OWEGO FALLS TO LANSING IN CLASS B SEMIS (2023-05-25)
By TIM TAYLOR
Tioga County Sports Report
OWEGO — The Lansing baseball team continued its march through the Section IV baseball tournament Wednesday, taking advantage of a pair of Owego miscues to upset the second-seeded Indians, 1-0, in the Class B semifinals.
The No. 6 Bobcats capitalized on a throwing error to score the game’s lone run. Logan Mayo led off the fifth inning with a single to center field and, with one away, he advanced to third on a throwing error after Zack Sperger hit into a fielder’s choice. Ryan Pettograsso-Houk then scored Mayo with a sacrifice fly to center.
Following an intentional walk and a base on balls, the Indians pulled starting pitcher Lucas Harbol for reliever Conlan Taylor, who induced a ground ball out to halt any further threat.
In its final at-bats, Owego attempted to rally as Peyton Farrell walked with one down and Ben Rollison followed with a double to left. However, the Bobcats’ came up with a picture perfect Mason Braid-to-Sperger-to-Korbin Lovejoy relay to get Farrell diving into home.
Owego head coach Nick Wegmann shouldered the blame for the loss.
“I talked to the boys and today falls directly on me,” he said. “I made a mistake coaching third base in the last inning, costing us. I don’t know what else to say besides today's my fault.
“Our boys put us in a position to ultimately potentially win the ball and I made a mistake. It sucks and I’ve got to wear it. It sucks for them because they played absolutely outstanding baseball all season and I'm the one that ends up costing us. Just a tough one.”
The Indians weren’t done yet as Taylor was hit by a pitch, then Mayo apparently rolled his ankle attempting to field a ground ball off the bat of Evan English.
With the bases loaded and two outs in the books, Braid fielded a fly ball to end the game.
“When you give up one run to a lineup like that in the sectional semifinal game, I mean what else can you ask for,” said Wegmann.
“With the sticks, we put ourselves in position to score. It just ended up not happening for us, but when you look at the pitching and that staff, really no walks, not a lot of hits. They did an outstanding job.”
Owego left five base-runners in scoring position, including Ben Rollison on three different occasions.
He singled and reached second on a walk to English in the first. In the third, he was hit by a pitch and made it to third following a walk to English and a single by Jack Rollison. He was in scoring position in the seventh as well.
Lansing stranded four batters in scoring position following a Pettogrosso-Houk double in the first, an infield single and walk in the second, and two fifth-inning walks.
The pitching was strong on both sides.
Harbol went 4 ⅔ innings, striking out four while scattering three hits and four walks. Taylor faced eight batters over the final 2 ⅓ innings, surrendering one hit and fanning three.
Jaxson Mayo gave up five hits and four walks, and struck out four over 6 ⅔ innings to pick up the win. Pettogrosso-Houk faced one batter in relief.
Ben Rollison went 3-for-3 at the plate with a double and had two stolen bases. Harbol was 1-for-2 and Jack Rollison was 1-for-4.
Logan Mayo had two of the Bobcats’ four hits. Pettogrosso-Houk and Avery Wells had one apiece.
Lansing (14-4) faces the Oneonta-Chenango Forks winner for the title Friday.
Owego finishes the season with a 13-5 record, but only graduates three starters.
“You know, it's going to sting for a while and it's going to suck, but hopefully when you look back on it, you see it as a success,” Wegmann said. “More of the fact that we're around good guys. We’ve got good guys in the locker room with us, good ball players, so just relishing in those memories of being around with our buddies. That's kind of what we’ve got to look forward to now.”
——————
IN PHOTO 1: Owego's Joseph Palladino. ... PHOTOS BY TIM TAYLOR.
