Little Falls, Oriskany earn shots at Section 3 baseball titles with wins Saturday in Utica

UTICA - The Little Falls Mounties are heading to Section III's baseball finals for the first time in five years and the Oriskany Redskins give the Center State Conference a shot at a second title after the C and D schools were among the winners in semifinal play Saturday at Murnane Field.

Little Falls, last a Class C sectional champion in 2018, heads to Onondaga Community College Tuesday to play for one title. Oriskany, the Class D runner-up to Morrisville-Eaton last spring, will also be seeking its first title since 2018 when the Redskins play the first of three Monday games at noon.

More: Section 3 baseball, 2023 playoff results and highlights

Their opponents will be Belleville-Henderson and Bishop Ludden of Syracuse, the only two No. 1 seeds to reach the finals this season.

Little Falls, seeded third, defeated No. 2 Beaver River in Saturday's 10 a.m. opener in Utica, and Bishop Ludden followed with a 7-1 win over No. 4 Weedsport in the second Class C semifinal.

Oriskany, seeded seventh, beat No. 6 West Canada Valley 10-5 in an all-Center State Conference semifinal in the first Class D game, and Belleville-Henderson beat No. 4 Stockbridge Valley 3-1 in the day's nightcap.

Little Falls wins 11th straight game

Senior right-hander Brayton Langdon was perfect into the fourth inning and held Beaver River hitless into the fifth in the Little Falls Mounties' 7-2 win in the 10 a.m. opener at Murnane Field.

Langdon, who also scored the game's first run and drove in two others, struck out seven batters and walked four in a three-hitter. He retired the first 11 Beaver River batters while Little Falls (18-3) was building a 6-0 lead.

"I feel super, great," Langdon said. "All my pitches were working for me today and this is the best defense this team has played."

Langdon singled, stole a base, advanced on a wild pitch and scored the game's first run on a two-out hit by Dominick Izzo. The Mounties added a run on a bases-loaded balk, and an inning later, Langdon drove Sam Phillips home with his second hit of the day. His second RBI came on a sacrifice fly in the seventh.Phillips added three hits and scored three runs.

"We talk all the time about just making routine plays," said Bob Gollegly who coached the 2018 Mounties to their most recent championship with a win over West Canada Valley. "The team that makes those plays wins the game (and) we do a good job prepping to play."

Oriskany returning to D final

West Canada Valley struck first Saturday but each time the Indians scored, Oriskany's Redskins responded.

No. 6 West Canada Valley scored two runs in the bottom of the first inning and No. 7 Oriskany came back with three in the top of the second.

Trailing 7-2 in the third, West Canada Valley got a two-run home run from starting pitcher Sean Burdick. Oriskany anwered with two more runs in the top of the third, and the same scenario played out when the Indians (15-6) tallied their last run in the bottom of the fifth.

Sophomore right-hander Chase Koenig pitched a complete game for the Redskins (13-4) and limited the Indians to one run over five innings after Burdick homered. He struck out six batters while walking two.

"He's been that way all year," Oriskany coach Eric Enos said of his pitcher. "He starts out slow and it takes him longer to warm up. … It's always easier to pitch with a lead."

At the plate, eighth-grader Dean Koenig, the pitcher's brother and Oriskany's No. 9 batter, drove in three runs with a two-run double and a fielder's choice, and Jack Tamburino scored four runs with two hits and a walk. Junior Noah Narolis singled, doubled, walked, drove in on run and scored three, and Josh Zyskowski singled, doubled, drove in two runs and scored two.

"That's what's helping us during the run," said Enos whose team has won seven consecutive games and 11 of its last 12. "We're getting contributions everywhere; we're not just relying on a few batters."

Leadoff hitter Brayden Shepardson started three innings with singles and scored twice for West Canada Valley. Iain Farber singled, tripled, walked twice, scored one run and drove home another. Burdick had two hits and scored twice, and Dylan Dayton drove in two runs.

Morrisville-Eaton beat Oriskany 3-2 in last year's championship game when the Redskins were seeded second.

No. 1 seeds advance

Bishop Ludden and Belleville-Henderson entered postseason play as No. 1 seeds. Unlike Class AA West Genesee, Class A Whitsboro and Class B South Jefferson, the top seeds in classes C and D made it through the first week and earned the spots in their championship games that the brackets predicted.

Bishop Ludden followed Little Falls' win with a 7-1 victory of its own in the only class Final Four featuring the top four seeds. The Syracuse parochial school scored two runs in the first inning and led 5-0 after three behind right-hander Joe Dunham who walked the bases loaded in the first inning and escaped the jam. Dunham allowed three hits and struck out nine batters over six innings.

Nolan Feldt had three hits and three RBI for Bishop Ludden (19-2) and capped the scoring with a two-run single that knocked out Weedsport starter Nico Giacolone in the sixth inning. Dunham singled, doubled and scored two runs, and Joey Adamo also scord twice.

Antonio Tortorello had two of the four hits for Weedsport (16-5) and drove in the Warriors' run.

Belleville-Henderson (16-2) and Stockbridge Valley (13-4) went scoreless until the sixth inning in the last game of Saturday's foursome in Utica. Stockbridge Valley broke the deadlock in the top of the inning; two walks and an infield single loaded the bases with one out and pinch-runner Gabe Smith scored on a wild pitch after Caleb Williams struck out a batter for the second out.

That inning ended with another strikeout and the bottom of the sixth started with another out before Brittan Cross tripled to the gap in left-center. With Stockbridge Valley's infield moving in, Cayden Randall hit a ground ball to shortstop. Cross ran on contact and slid home safely to the game as the throw home went to the first base side. Williams walked one out later, and following a pitching change, Fred Plummer hit a hard one-hopper that got by the second baseman, allowing both Randall and Williams to score.

Williams pitched a complete game, allowing five hits while walking five batters and striking out 12. The hits by Cross and Plummer were the second and third of the game for Belleville-Henderson.

Kaden Wilson had two hits for Stockbridge Valley. Starting pitcher Charlie Cross struck out eight batter and allowed two hits in 5 2/3 innings.

The Finals

Oriskany and Belleville-Henderson kick off a holiday tripleheader Monday at noon on Onondaga Community College's turf baseball field. The Class D game will be followed by No. 3 Cazenovia and No. 9 Skaneateles in Class B, with the Class A game between No. 2 Jamesville-DeWitt and No. 4 New Hartford wrapping up the schedule with a 6 p.m. start.

Little Falls and Bishop Ludden will play the lone Tuesday game.

The season's first final was played Sunday by Class AA Liverpool and Christian Brothers Academy, seeded fifth and second, respectively.

Onondaga will also be the site for regional playoffs in Class A Thursday, a semifinal, and classes D, AA and possibly A Saturday. Regionals for classes B and C will be played Saturday at Section IV sites.

This article originally appeared on Times Telegram: Little Falls, Oriskany earn shots at Section 3 baseball titles