SYRACUSE — The No. 2 McGraw baseball team fell 6-3 to No. 1 Oriskany in the Section III Class D finals Tuesday at Onodoaga Community College. The win gave Oriskany its third straight sectional championship and will send it to states to take on Elmira Notre Dame.
McGraw jumped out to an early lead in the first. Calob Sutton singled with one out and came around to score when Foster Eaton reached on an error. The Eagles also added a second run in the top of third when Blair Mulcahy singled, moved to second on a walk, stole third and scored when the throw went into left field. Blair Mulcahy had also put together two scoreless innings on the mound to allow the Eagles to lead early.
“This is the best team in the state for a reason,” McGraw head coach Corey Wilson said. “We had them on the ropes but made a couple mistakes. It’s a learning experience.”
Those mistakes started in the bottom of the third when Oriskany tied the game. Nick Hays singled with one out and scored on a throwing error to cut the McGraw lead in half. Dean Koenig scored on a balk to tie the game later in the inning. After a scoreless fourth, Eddie Wright led off the bottom of the fifth by crushing a triple to center field and scoring on Koenig’s sac fly to give Oriskany the lead. The Skyhawks added another run via error to make it 4-2.
Wright threw a complete game for Oriskany to continue a dominant season, striking out 14 and giving up no earned runs. After Blair Mulcahy worked into the sixth inning, Owen Mulcahy replaced him and finished off the game for McGraw. Blair Mulcahy’s final line read 5.1 innings, allowing five earned runs and picking up two strikeouts.
“Blair was great,” Wilson said. “He did exactly what we needed him to do and made kids ground out and pop up. They’re going to have some hits and they did, but Blair really was fantastic.”
The Eagles entered the top of the seventh trailing 6-2 and after two quick outs, they started to rally when Owen Lea and Liam Baker walked. Riley VanLiew reached on an error, scoring Owen Lea to get the tying run to the plate. Wright’s final strikeout ended the threat.
“Just to see my team emotional at the end of the game, that’s hard,” Wilson said. “My two seniors (Thomas Lea and VanLiew), they’ve just put in a lot of work to get here, it’s four years in the making.”
McGraw ends the season with a 16-3 record. It will enter next year with a very similar roster and look to once again compete for a sectional championship.
TRACK & FIELD
CORTLAND
Iniko Abani, placed second in the boys high jump at the Section III State Qualifier with a mark of 6 feet, 2 inches. Abani advances to the state championships as the at-large qualifier for clearing 6 feet, 3 inches earlier in the season. Xander Schutt finished his season with a fourth place finish in the boys 200-meter dash. He set a personal record with a time of 23.23. Abani will compete at 10 a.m. June 14 at Middletown High School.
UPCOMING SCHEDULE
TRACK & FIELD
Girls Section III State Qualifier, 4 p.m. today at C-NS High School
Section IV State Qualifier, 5 p.m. today at Union-Endicott High School
GIRLS FLAG FOOTBALL
State Championship, 8 a.m., Saturday at Homer High School
