Oneonta rides big 6th inning to Class B title in 12-9 win

May 28—On a day where both teams were finding barrel after barrel, it was Oneonta's bats that were a bit hotter as the Yellowjackets defeated Waverly 12-9 on Friday in the Section IV Class B Baseball Championship Game at Mirabito Stadium in Binghamton.

After squandering an early 5-0 lead, Oneonta broke open a 6-6 ballgame with six runs in the bottom of the sixth inning, then held off a three-run seventh inning by the Wolverines to claim its first section title since 2015.

"They battled; they played some good baseball sometimes, sometimes it's a little ugly, but we're marching on and that's all we wanted to do at this point of the year and we get to play again. It's an awesome feeling," OHS coach Joe Hughes said.

Six different Yellowjackets recorded a base hit, with Liam Blair, Owen Burnsworth, Aidan Gelbsman, and Seamus Catella each notching two. Blair drove in four runs, while Gelbsman drove in three, Catella drove in two, and Burnsworth had one RBI.

Gelbsman pitched well on the mound despite the final score, as Waverly scored its nine runs on just five hits. Gelbsman finished with five strikeouts, two walks, and two hits allowed in six innings of work. Nolan Stark earned the win out of the bullpen, recording two strikeouts, two walks, and three hits in two innings.

It was the kind of complete team effort that Hughes was hoping to see in such a big game.

"We actually talked just yesterday, if we can be productive and competitive one through nine in the lineup, we'll be pretty good," he said. "There's nothing easy, no hitter's easy. We wanted good quality at-bats one through nine and we did that today."

OHS went up 1-0 in the first when Gelbsman drove in Carter Neer after Neer led off the inning with a double. The Yellowjackets then upped their lead to five in the second inning as Blair and Gelbsman each had two-run singles.

Waverly wouldn't go down that easy, though. The Wolverines put three on the board in the third, then took the lead in the top of the fifth on a three-run home run by Ty Beeman.

But instead of losing their composure after giving up such a big hit, Oneonta went back to work. Burnsworth got on base with a leadoff single on a misplayed pop-up and was soon driven home on a triple by Catella that tied the game at 6-6.

After Stark recorded a spotless sixth inning, the Yellowjackets broke things open in their half of the sixth.

OHS loaded the bases with no one out after a hit by pitch, a Waverly error, and a fielder's choice. Blair then came up big once again, blasting a pitch all the way to the wall in dead center field that drove in two runs to give the lead back to Oneonta.

A pair of RBI singles from Burnsworth and Catella plus two more runs scored on Waverly miscues eventually made the score 12-6.

Hughes was impressed with how well his team bounced back after giving up what could have been a game-changing home run.

"They came back," he said. "Owen Burnsworth got on with a little luck from above maybe, and then Catella had a great triple and tied the game up. Then our eighth grader [Stark] came in and did a decent job.

"We had a great bottom of the sixth inning to score six. We just hit it really well. Liam Blair hit it off the hitter's eye in centerfield. Just base hit after base hit. It was a great win in a lot of different ways."

Things started to look interesting again in the seventh as Waverly's first four batters of the inning got on base to make it 12-7. A two-out, two-run double then cut the deficit to 12-9. But Stark kept his composure, induced a harmless fly-out to center field, and the celebration was on for the Yellowjackets.

"Our kids have worked so hard this year," Hughes said. "They've come to practice every day, they worked hard. They're a great group of guys, one of the best group of guys I've worked with, and I'm really, really happy for them."

Oneonta 12, Waverly 9

W ... 003 030 3 — 9 5 2

OHS ... 140 016 X — 12 11 1

W: Beeman (L), Hollywood (6)

OHS: Aidan Gelbsman, Nolan Stark (6, W), and Lou Bonnici

HR: Beeman (W)

3B: Seamus Catella (OHS)

2B: Carter Neer (OHS), Liam Blair (OHS), Hand (W), Bailey (W), DeLill (W)