After weeks of rain have spoiled the Canton varsity baseball team’s hopes to play, the sun finally shined on the Golden Bears, as they won a slugfest in Ogdensburg on Saturday, and Zadok Roiger pitched a nearly perfect game at Gouverneur on Monday to win a pair of Northern Athletic Conference Central Division games.
The Golden Bears defeated host OFA 8-6 in the first round of the wooden bat Pinkerton Memorial Wooden Bat Tournament before falling to Mechanicville 9-2 in the championship game, and Roiger allowed just two hits and no walks while striking out 11 in a complete-game 5-0 victory at Gouverneur.
Canton is now 5-3 overall and 4-1 in conference play. The Bears, who are tied with OFA in the loss column, will face Potsdam in a road doubleheader on Tuesday, host Massena on Thursday, then continue a suspended game (Canton leads 1-0 going to the bottom of the first) at Massena on Sunday before closing out the regular season at Malone next Monday.
Canton 8, OFA 6
Canton came back from a 3-1 deficit after three innings, and after surrendering the lead for a second time, tacked on three runs in the sixth inning to spoil OFA’s hopes of winning a tournament title on their home field.
The Bears scored four runs in the fourth inning to build a 5-3 lead. Gavin Schryver worked a bases loaded walk, Jackson Ames hit an RBI infield single, and Roiger plated two runs with a line drive to right field to give Canton a 5-3 lead.
After OFA tied the game 5-5 in the fifth inning, Canton came right back with three more runs. Charlie Todd hit a line drive to center with the bases loaded to score two runs, and Ahlfeld executed a perfect suicide squeeze to bring home the third run of the inning.
Jackson Ames had a breakout day for the Bears, going 3-for-5 at the plate, while Roiger and Parker Ames were both 2-for-4. Schryver, Ahlfeld, Thomas Creurer and Mat Bradish-Hayes also had hits for Canton, which posted a season-high 12 hits in the contest.
Lucca LaBella led the Blue Devils’ offense, going 3-for-3; the catcher also had an outstanding game defensively, blocking multiple pitches in the dirt that appeared to be bound for the backstop to prevent the Golden Bears from scoring easy runs on wild pitches.
Todd started the game on the mound for Canton, allowing three runs on two hits and four walks with eight strikeouts in four innings of work. Through his first 22 innings of the season, Todd had not allowed an earned run.
Roiger earned the win, allowing three runs on six hits and no walks with three strikeouts over the final three innings.
Mechanicville 9, Canton 2
Mechanicville leadoff hitter Cruz Goverski proved to be too much for the Golden Bears in the championship game of the Pinkerton Tournament, going 4-for-5 with a double and two RBI to lead the Red Raiders to the tournament title.
The game was tied 1-1 after three innings, but Mechanicville scored three runs in the fourth, two more in the fifth, and three in the sixth to pull away.
Roiger powered the Canton offense, going 2-for-4 with a home run. Todd, Ahlfeld, Matt Holbrook and Max DeCoteau also had hits for Canton.
Jackson Ames pitched well in his first start of the season, allowing one run on three hits and one walk in three innings of work. Schryver, Creurer and Ahlfeld each made their first appearances of the season to wrap up the game.
Canton 5, Gouverneur 0
Roiger needed just 72 pitches to record 21 outs and faced just one batter over the minimum to shut out the Wildcats.
Tucker Mussaw hit a two-out double in the first inning, and Kylen Bowman led off the second inning with a single but was caught stealing. Roiger then proceeded to retire the next 17 batters to close out the game.
The bottom of the order powered the offense for the Golden Bears, with the seven, eight and nine hitters combining to go 5-for-9.
Holbrook was 2-for-3, Bradish-Hayes was 2-for-2, and Creurer had a two-run single.
Canton scored four runs in the fourth inning on an RBI double by Ahlfeld, Creurer’s two-run single, and an RBI single by Holbrook. Schryver added a run in the seventh, scoring after an errant throw to third after Schryver advanced on a wild pitch.