The Oneonta baseball team’s bid for back-to-back sectional titles came to an end in heartbreaking fashion in Thursday’s Section IV Class B Semifinal.
An eighth-inning home run by Chenango Forks ended the Yellowjackets’ season in a 2-1 pitchers’ duel that was everything you’d want from a playoff baseball game.
“For anybody who doubts the quality of baseball, today was the day,” Oneonta coach Joe Hughes said. “There were some very impressive performances by both teams and a lot of different players. It was just a well-played game.”
Chenango Forks starting pitcher Jack Curtis delivered the decisive blow in extra innings, leading off the top of the eighth with a rocket to left field that put the Blue Devils up for good.
Oneonta was able to get runners to first and third with two out in the bottom half of the inning but couldn’t drive the tying run in.
Both starters were excellent from start to finish. Bruce Mistler scattered 11 hits and walked none while striking out three in eight innings of work. Curtis, meanwhile, fanned 11 Oneonta batters — including striking out the side in the bottom of the seventh to send the game into extras — while allowing just four hits and three walks.
“It was a great high school game and it was a classic pitcher’s duel,” Hughes said. “Runs were hard to come by, baserunners were hard to come by. Both pitchers pitched great. They had some barrels early, and I’m thinking, ‘Oh, boy.’ We had some barrels in the middle innings and hit the ball hard, just right at people a couple times.”
Oneonta opened the scoring in the bottom of the first when Aidan Gelbsman worked a walk and eventually came around to score on a passed ball.
Forks answered in the top of the second on an RBI single by Chris Boyle to tie things at 1-1. From that point on, neither team was able to get much of anything going offensively.
Mistler filled up the strike zone, relying on the defense behind him as well as his own throughout the game as the Yellowjackets made some great plays in the field.
“He pitched really good in a big game against a really good hitting team,” Hughes said of Mistler. “He got his offspeed pitch going a little in the middle innings and got really effective.”
On the other side, Oneonta wasn’t able to barrel up many balls against Curtis. Nolan Stark, Brady Carr, Mistler and Cameron Sitts had the only hits of the game, all of which were singles.
“I liked our approach,” Hughes said, giving credit to how well Curtis pitched. “He threw a good fastball, he had a good changeup and a curveball. He was hard to hit and we had some good barrels in the middle innings after we settled in and saw him a little bit. We just couldn’t piece anything together against him. I thought maybe we’d get something there against him at the end. He’s an awfully tough guy to hit.”
Chenango Forks had a chance to increase its lead in the eighth after Curtis’ home run, as the Blue Devils came up with three consecutive two-out singles to load the bases. But as he had for most of the game, Mistler was able to work out of danger, inducing a long flyball to leftfield.
Stark gave Oneonta some hope with a one-out walk in the bottom of the eighth and Carr’s infield single put the tying run on third with the potential winning run at first.
But Curtis was having none of it, inducing a high flyball to the outfield that ended the game.
“I’m really happy with our season,” Hughes said. “Obviously we wanted to keep playing but I can’t be happier with this group of kids. We’ll miss the seniors but I think we’ll be back.”
It was a disappointing finale for a senior class that went through a veritable roller coaster of emotions over the last four years.
From the COVID pandemic wiping out their entire freshman season and most of their sophomore campaign to coming back and winning a sectional championship as juniors, the senior group of Lou Bonnici, Owen Burnsworth, Aidan Gelbsman, Kaden Halstead, Cameron Horth and Cameron Sitts is one that Hughes said won’t be forgotten.
“I told them out there, I couldn’t ask anything more from those guys,” he said. “They’re great leaders. We’ll miss ‘em, but they’ve got some baseball ahead of them and I was happy to coach ‘em.”
Chenango Forks 2, Oneonta 1
Chenango Fo. 010 000 01 — 2 11 1
Oneonta 100 000 00 — 1 4 2
CF: Jack Curtis (W) and Chris Boyle
OHS: Bruce Mistler (L) and Jameson Brown
HR: Jack Curtis (CF)