AUBURN - The Union Springs boys' basketball team won the Cayuga County Tournament for the fourth straight time this past December. Today, Moravia goes for a similar four-peat in a tournament of the same name, but different sport.
Jennifer Meyers / The Citizen
Union Springs' Marc Rodriguez prepares to tag out Moravia's Matt Vargason during their game at Veteran's Park in Auburn on Friday.
Union Springs' Marc Rodriguez prepares to tag out Moravia's Matt Vargason during their game at Veteran's Park in Auburn on Friday.
The Blue Devils' baseball team defeated Union Springs 10-4 to advance to the championship game of the Cayuga County Tournament at Veteran's Park. Moravia will play Port Byron at 3 p.m. today.
Greg Langtry went the distance for the Blue Devils, allowing eight hits and two earned runs while striking out five.
“My control was on today,” Langtry said of his performance. “That's what I was most worried about before the game. I have a tendency to get wild.”
The Wolves' Ryan Driscoll received the loss but limited a dangerous Blue Devils' lineup. While Moravia jumped on the Wolves for 10 runs through three innings in their first meeting of the season, Driscoll shut the Blue Devils down early on.
“I thought Driscoll matched Langtry for the most part,” Moravia coach Rich Valentino said. “He's a nice pitcher. He's got good command and mixed up his fastball and curveball really well.”The Moravia bats heated up the second time through the lineup though. On four straight pitches in the third inning, the Blue Devils hit three RBI singles of the bats of Dustin LeFave, Jake Wood and Tim Nervina.
“Our offense just came alive,” Nervina said of the big inning. “We always play like that. We just feed off each other. That's why baseball's such a great game. When the guy in front of you gets a hit it just builds the rest of the team's confidence.”
Joel Mackey hit a sacrifice fly and Langtry supplied an RBI groundout and just like that, Moravia was up 5-0 at the close of the third inning.
Langtry was cruising along until his defense kept him on the mound longer than usual. Moravia had three errors in the fourth inning, leading to an unearned run and forcing Langtry to face two extra batters.
“I wasn't pleased with our defense,” Valentino said. “You know, it's funny. I was talking to (Union Springs' coach Jim Bona) before the fourth and we were both talking about how each team didn't have an error. All of a sudden, we're falling apart in the infield. The big key to baseball is don't extend an inning.”
The Wolves played solid defense all game and committed no errors, a mighty task considering every batter in the Blue Devils' lineup hits the ball hard.
Moravia had another rough inning in the field, the sixth, and the Wolves capitalized again with another unearned run. Eric Johnson led Union Springs on offense with two hits and two runs while Matt Orman chipped in with two hits.
Wood led Moravia with three hits and two RBIs while LeFave, Nervina and Mackey each had two hits. Wood and Nervina drove in two runs apiece.
The Blue Devils have won the Cayuga County Tournament for three straight years and are on the verge of a fourth. While some players shrugged off the idea of a fourth title, Valentino said he views this tournament in high esteem.
“This is a great tournament,” he said. “This is a great venue - we could have played this game at home but we wanted to play here. We like the atmosphere. For us a fourth title would mean a lot. It's definitely something we think about.”
While each year the Blue Devils sport a different lineup, Langtry said winning a fourth title is as important to the player's on this team as it is to one's that played in the past.
“When you see this tourney on the schedule you circle it,” Langtry said. “It's a must-win for us, especially with our history here. Plus, a lot of guys that already graduated would give us a lot of crap if we didn't win this thing.”
Greg Langtry went the distance for the Blue Devils, allowing eight hits and two earned runs while striking out five.
“My control was on today,” Langtry said of his performance. “That's what I was most worried about before the game. I have a tendency to get wild.”
The Wolves' Ryan Driscoll received the loss but limited a dangerous Blue Devils' lineup. While Moravia jumped on the Wolves for 10 runs through three innings in their first meeting of the season, Driscoll shut the Blue Devils down early on.
“I thought Driscoll matched Langtry for the most part,” Moravia coach Rich Valentino said. “He's a nice pitcher. He's got good command and mixed up his fastball and curveball really well.”The Moravia bats heated up the second time through the lineup though. On four straight pitches in the third inning, the Blue Devils hit three RBI singles of the bats of Dustin LeFave, Jake Wood and Tim Nervina.
“Our offense just came alive,” Nervina said of the big inning. “We always play like that. We just feed off each other. That's why baseball's such a great game. When the guy in front of you gets a hit it just builds the rest of the team's confidence.”
Joel Mackey hit a sacrifice fly and Langtry supplied an RBI groundout and just like that, Moravia was up 5-0 at the close of the third inning.
Langtry was cruising along until his defense kept him on the mound longer than usual. Moravia had three errors in the fourth inning, leading to an unearned run and forcing Langtry to face two extra batters.
“I wasn't pleased with our defense,” Valentino said. “You know, it's funny. I was talking to (Union Springs' coach Jim Bona) before the fourth and we were both talking about how each team didn't have an error. All of a sudden, we're falling apart in the infield. The big key to baseball is don't extend an inning.”
The Wolves played solid defense all game and committed no errors, a mighty task considering every batter in the Blue Devils' lineup hits the ball hard.
Moravia had another rough inning in the field, the sixth, and the Wolves capitalized again with another unearned run. Eric Johnson led Union Springs on offense with two hits and two runs while Matt Orman chipped in with two hits.
Wood led Moravia with three hits and two RBIs while LeFave, Nervina and Mackey each had two hits. Wood and Nervina drove in two runs apiece.
The Blue Devils have won the Cayuga County Tournament for three straight years and are on the verge of a fourth. While some players shrugged off the idea of a fourth title, Valentino said he views this tournament in high esteem.
“This is a great tournament,” he said. “This is a great venue - we could have played this game at home but we wanted to play here. We like the atmosphere. For us a fourth title would mean a lot. It's definitely something we think about.”
While each year the Blue Devils sport a different lineup, Langtry said winning a fourth title is as important to the player's on this team as it is to one's that played in the past.
“When you see this tourney on the schedule you circle it,” Langtry said. “It's a must-win for us, especially with our history here. Plus, a lot of guys that already graduated would give us a lot of crap if we didn't win this thing.”
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