The Colonie baseball team didn’t let Shaker spoil its night under the Cook Park lights.
Brian O’Keefe’s 2-run homer in the bottom of the fifth inning propelled the Garnet Raiders to a 7-5 victory over their crosstown rivals in last Friday’s Suburban Council game.
It was a great way to end the week, said Colonie coach Kevin Halburian.
Shaker (5-2 league, 5-3 overall) built a 5-0 lead through the first three innings before Colonie (4-3, 7-4) rallied with four runs in the bottom of the fourth and O’Keefe’s fifth-inning blast.
`We didn’t do much to continue our offense, and then I may have left [starting pitcher Derek] Gardella in one hitter too long because their No. 4 guy [O’Keefe] hit the home run that put them ahead,` said Shaker coach Pete Mralvja.
The Blue Bison got the jump on Colonie in the first inning when Jeff Hoffman hit a 3-run homer. They then added a pair of runs in the top of the third to build their five-run cushion.
The momentum shifted in Colonie’s direction in the bottom of the fourth inning. Gardella walked four batters and gave up a pair of RBI singles as the Garnet Raiders pulled close.
`We took a lot of pitches and made their pitcher work,` said Halburian. `He got tired around the third inning, and we took advantage of it [in the fourth].`
`I don’t know if it was so much they were wearing our pitchers down,` said Mralvja. `Let’s just say politically correctly that we had trouble with the strike zone.`
Once Colonie took the lead on O’Keefe’s homer, pitcher Chris Kalica made certain the Garnet Raiders stayed in front. Kalica finished off Shaker with two shutout innings to pick up the complete-game victory.
It was the first time that Colonie hosted its crosstown rivalry game with Shaker under the lights at Cook Park’s primary Babe Ruth field.
`That was a great atmosphere,` said Halburian. `There were about 250 people there, and a bunch of kids came down from the high school.`
Colonie and Shaker were scheduled to return to action Tuesday. Colonie was supposed to travel to winless Mohonasen weather permitting, while Shaker’s game at Ballston Spa was postponed to Wednesday.
In other baseball action last weekend, Christian Brothers Academy bounced back from its first loss of the season by beating Averill Park 11-3 Saturday in a non-league contest.
The Brothers (4-1, 7-1) used a 9-run third inning to take control of the game. Cody Crounse and Casey McPartlon each belted two-run triples during the rally.
Max Weaver allowed three runs on three hits in a complete-game pitching performance for CBA.
The Brothers entered the game off a 5-2 loss to Big 10 rival LaSalle last Thursday.
The Cadets (5-0, 7-0) scored the go-ahead run in the bottom of the fourth inning and tacked on two more in the fifth to give themselves their final margin of victory.
Will Remillard and Nick Bernardo homered, and Dave Roseboom struck out 10 CBA batters for LaSalle.
Matt Sand and Elijah Dukes singled twice for the Brothers.
CBA hosts Amsterdam Wednesday in a Big 10 game.“
