AUBURN - Sweeping a team three times in one season is hard, to say the least. A few other athletic feats difficult to accomplish are winning nine straight baseball games, scoring 20 runs in two days, earning five consecutive championship titles in a tournament and having a hitter on your roster batting 1.000 through his first three games back from injury.

Well, three out of four isn't bad for the Moravia baseball team (10-4), which topped Union Springs, 8-3 for its fifth Cayuga County Baseball Tournament title in as many years at Falcon Park on Saturday. It was also their sixth win in five days and ninth straight overall.

“It was always one of our goals for the season, and we talked about this in the beginning of the year,” Moravia coach Rich Valentino said. “We just wanted to drive for five in this tournament. Union Springs has won the last five in the (Cayuga County) basketball tournament, now we have it in this one.”

In the consolation game earlier in the day, Port Byron defeated Weedsport for the second time this year, 7-5.

Moravia center fielder Jake Wood was named the tournament MVP, which came as no surprise after his 4-for-4 performance with three triples in the previous night's game with Port Byron. The senior, who entered the game with a perfect batting average, continued to impress when he hit a three-run home run over the right field wall in his first at-bat.

“I had just been getting good pitches,” Wood said. “It felt good, just a hanging breaking ball that I thought I could hit.”

Wood, who ripped a double in the second and was intentionally walked for the second time this season, had his flawless at-bat streak end when Caleb Lyndaker struck him out swinging in the fifth inning.

“More than just (the streak ending), I was really disappointed because I just wanted to get the run in,” Wood said.

Lyndaker, who has two losses against the Blue Devils this season, threw a better game than his statistics - 11 hits, four walks, eight earned runs, seven strikeouts in five innings - might indicate.

“Caleb is a really smart pitcher,” Union Springs coach Jim Bona Jr. said. “He mixes and matches well and knows a lot of Moravia's hitters. He had pretty good command of his pitches, we just didn't make some plays behind him in the outfield today.”

On the mound opposite Lyndaker for the second time this season was Greg Langtry, who was the Cayuga County Tournament MVP last season. The lanky southpaw threw an eight-hitter, with one walk and five strikeouts and went 2-for-3 at the plate, with two stolen bases, a run scored and an RBI.

“Union Springs is always a good rivalry for us because they always field a good team,” Valentino said. “And that Lyndaker-Langtry matchup is always a great pitcher's duel.”

Langtry gave all the credit to the power hitter.

“I was a little wild out there, but after the first inning and Jake's home run, I knew we were going to win,” Langtry said. “He really deserves the MVP. He's one of the best hitters in the league, if not the best. It's good to have him back after the injury, especially for me as the pitcher. It's a whole lot easier knowing that he's going to drive in a ton of runs every game. It makes my job better and definitely takes the pressure off me.”

With the five-run lead going into the top of the seventh, Dustin LeFave closed out the game with two strikeouts. Behind the mound, the Blue Devils committed three errors, but also pulled off a few great plays, including a 4-6-3 double play in the fifth inning.

James Benham smacked an RBI double in the top of the first to give the Wolves their only lead of the game. After Moravia scored three more in the second to take a five-run lead, Union Springs had a chance to score twice in the fourth to get back into the game. James Burns reached first on a dropped third strike by Blue Devils catcher Bryant Badman. Burns stole second and reached third on a Lyndaker single to left field, and even though A.J. Rouse momentarily bobbled the ball in the outfield, Burns tried to turn third for the score, but was thrown out at the plate.

“I held him up at third and the left fielder bobbled it, so I thought we had a shot then, but it didn't get by him as far as I thought,” Bona said. “We've got to take those chances on the bases, though. That's how we've been playing all year. We have to force the other team to make plays. That's just what we tried to do here.”

Lyndaker (3-for-3) later scored on a David Wilsczak single, and Benham roped a bloop single to score Marc Rodriguez in the top of the fifth, but the Blue Devils added two runs in the bottom of the inning to seal the win. Lyndaker took another chance to score in the sixth when Chris Fleming roped a single into the outfield but was thrown out at the plate by right fielder Adam O'Brien.

“We finally got some good hits off of Greg Langtry so I was proud of them for that,” Bona said. “They just weren't very timely and we got taken out of a couple of big innings. To Moravia's credit, they played very good defense, especially their outfielders. It was a quality baseball game.”

Also hitting well for Moravia were Justin Stanton (three hits, three runs), LeFave (2-for-4, two runs) and O'Brien (two-run double).

“Ever since a bunch of us were in middle school, (Moravia) has won the tournament it seems,” Langtry said. “We feel some pressure from the older guys to win it every year. They'd get all over us if we got beat.”

In the consolation game, Mitch David, Matt Janusz and Kent Pitcher led the Panthers to their second win this season with two hits and two RBIs each. Port Byron spread out nine hits and 12 stolen bases - five by Tab Carmon, who also scored three runs. David earned the win with four walks, seven hits and two strikeouts in five innings. The Warriors committed three errors, but were led by Nick Topichak and Gavin Johnston with two hits and two RBIs each. Bryce Leitten (two hits) got the loss, allowing all of Port Byron's hits but striking out seven in a complete game.