The Copenhagen Golden Knights sent 13 batters to the plate and scored seven runs in a decisive third inning on their way to an 11-2 victory over the Oriskany Redskins in the Section III Class D championship. The Golden Knights returned to the sectional final a year after losing to Hamilton's Emerald Knights and they certainly made it a long night for the Oriskany Redskins (16-6) and made sure this year it was a better drive home.
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Aided by four walks and three hit batters, Copenhagen(19-2) broke open a 2-1 game with seven third inning runs and never looked back.
(Oriskany's Rhett Kallassy turns on a second inning pitch.)
In a twisted way for Oriskany fans, this game was a almost a mirror image of their one TKO knockout victory over rival New York Mills on Saturday night at DeLutis in Rome.
After all, Coach Tom Meiss and his assistants ran out of room on their scorecards, as 14 Redskins brought their war-clubs to the dish and put up a really crooked looking ten runs to put away the Marauders.
Oriskany entered tonight's second half of a Section III twinbill in Syracuse, winners of 13 of their last 14 and a #5 seed on a roll, with all kinds of momentum and a large throng of fans wearing maroon, in the stands, to cheer them on.
This was the third appearance in the finals for Oriskany in the last five years. A slow start, almost as many errors, 5, as hits, 6, can add up to a bad night.
Unfortunately, the cheers ended way too early, as Copenhagen played up to its high state ranking, #6 in the latest polls and high Section III seed, #2.
(Chris Kellogg was in control all night for the Knights.)
Jake Spaulding led off with a single, moved all the way to third on an errant throw and scored on an RBI single from Ryan Fitzpatrick.
Fitzpatrick then moved to second, on a wild pickoff, and scored on a Alex Moser single. Back-to-back hit batters loaded the bases and two consecutive walks plated two runs, before Dave Hovendon and Chris Kellogg capped the scoring with an RBI single and sac fly respectively.
The eight run deficit was too much for the Redskins to overcome. Oriskany did their best as they put the leadoff batter on base in five of the seven innings, but Golden Knight starter Kellogg did a great job of limiting the damage.
Mike Bunal started things off right for Oriskany with a triple to the right center gap, but that was all the firepower the Redskins could muster. Bunal scored on a sac fly, but Oriskany didn't score again until a fifth inning ground out plated Rhett Kallassy.
Senior ace, Chris Kellogg, scattered six hits and struck out eight for Copenhagen and Jake Spaulding reached base all four times with two hits, two RBI and two runs scored. Twin brother Josh also scored twice and drove in a run to help the Golden Knights.
(Coach Tom Meiss tries to regroup the troops.)
Bunal had two of Oriskany's six hits but did not make it out of the third inning, as he was pulled during Copenhagen's seven-run onslaught. A relief combo of Steve Rossi and Joe Doolen limited the Golden Knights to just two runs the rest of the way.
(Oriskany reliever Nate Keating rocks and fires a third inning pitch.)
Copenhagen 11 Oriskany 2
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Oriskany 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 6 3
Copenhagen 1 1 7 0 2 0 X 11 11 0
