The Shaker and Colonie baseball teams will have more than town bragging rights on the line when they meet Thursday.
They will be playing for the Section II Class AA title.
No. 2 Colonie edged No. 3 Shenendehowa 6-5 in Saturday’s Sectional semifinal game at Joe Bruno Stadium in Troy, while No. 4 Shaker thumped No. 8 Saratoga 13-0 in the other semifinal.
It’s going to be a good game, said Colonie coach Kevin Halburian. `It’s going to be clean, it’s going to be hard and it’s going to be enjoyable.`
Colonie (18-2) used a wild rally in the bottom of the seventh inning to knock off Shen (15-5). With one out and the Garnet Raiders trailing 5-4, Jake Mullen hit a weak grounder in front of home plate. Shen catcher Mike Cuttita fielded the ball, but his throw to first base sailed into right field, which allowed Mullen to reach second.
`That’s all because Jake hustled out of the [batter’s] box,` said Halburian. `With his speed, he beat out the throw, and the guy [Cuttita] had to rush the throw.`
Jamie June made Shen pay for its mistake. June stroked a single into left field to drive in Mullen with the tying run.
`I expected something good out of him, and he came through,` Halburian said of June.
Shen coach James Carrese replaced starting pitcher Miles Kelly with Mike Englert, and the move seemingly worked at first as Englert struck out Chris Kalica. But Brian O’Keefe reached on an error, and Joe Schupp was hit by a pitch to load the bases for David Monin, who hit a shot past a diving Matt Buckley at third base to drive in O’Keefe with the winning run.
`I saw it get by [Buckley’s] glove, and I knew we were going to the Sectional finals,` said Monin.
`We didn’t execute at the end, and that’s what happens with young teams,` said Carrese.
Colonie staked Kalica to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning on a solo home run by Schupp and an RBI double by Zach Longo. Kalica wasn’t his usual stout self on the pitcher’s mound, though. The senior allowed a run in the top of the third inning and worked out of a jam in the fourth before giving up the tying run on John Craig’s RBI single.
Kalica got into more trouble in the sixth inning. Cuttita led off with a triple, and with one out Collin Grande beat out an infield single. Kalica intentionally walked Branden Cogswell — who doubled and singled earlier in the game — and nearly got out of the bases-loaded jam when he struck out Craig. However, Chris Miller launched a bases-clearing double to give Shen a 5-2 lead.
Colonie got its bats going in the bottom of the sixth inning. Monin hit an RBI double and later scored on pinch hitter Sam Carter’s sacrifice fly to center field to get the Garnet Raiders within striking distance. From there, the breaks fell Colonie’s way in the seventh inning to pull out the win.
`Every time you play Shen, you have to expect [a wild game],` said Monin. `They’re a great team.`
Shaker (16-6) had no need for late comebacks against Saratoga (11-8). The Blue Bison scored five runs in the first inning and three more in the second to take command.
`Everyone did their part today,` said senior outfielder Derek Gardella, who was a triple away from hitting for the cycle.
Saratoga threatened to have a big inning in the top of the first. The Blue Streaks loaded the bases with no outs, but Shaker pitcher Zach Breen worked out of the jam by getting the next three batters on a strikeout, an infield pop out and a groundout to shortstop.
`It’s an outstanding testament for Zach to get out of that spot, and the kids were pumped coming off the field,` said Shaker coach Steve Frank.
Shaker rode the momentum into the bottom of the first inning. Gardella belted a two-run homer over the left field fence for a 2-0 lead. Two batters later, Bobby Derico drove in Jeff Hoffman with an RBI single. That hit was followed by a two-run triple by Erik Egan for a 5-0 advantage.
`That’s the greatest feeling — when you’re team helps you like that,` said Breen.
Once he had the lead, Breen settled in. The senior didn’t allow a hit between the second and fourth innings and finished with a five-hit shutout.
Gardella added a double and a single to his home run, and Egan launched a three-run homer to left field in the bottom of the fourth inning for Shaker, which lit up Saratoga pitchers for 13 runs on 15 hits.
Shaker meets Colonie for the Class AA title at 7 p.m. Thursday at Joe Bruno Stadium.“