With strong pitching and an early rally, Queensbury takes 2018 Class A title
Queensbury wins fourth Class A title in six years with a 5-2 win over Amsterdam
TROY — Tough losses for teams are always hard to swallow especially when the expectations are so high. The 2017 season came to crushing halt for the Queensbury Spartans baseball team as they blew a five run lead and lost 10-8 to the hands of Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake. That loss in the first round gave them the motivation for and this season. With that motivation, the Spartans had nothing but a championship on their mind.
“Oh yeah, 100 percent,” starting pitcher Noah Edwards said after the game when asked if last year’s first round loss to Burnt Hills was motivation for this season. “It was a tough game and that’s the reason why I wanted to get back here.”
Queensbury accomplished their goal as they rallied from an early 2-1 deficit to defeat top seeded Amsterdam at Joseph L. Bruno Stadium Tuesday night. They fell down early as Edwards blew a 1-0 lead by giving up a two RBI single to Amsterdam’s Jake Greco. However, without losing his composure, he was able to end the second inning with a strikeout.
After that inning, he began to buckle down. With the last out of the third inning, Edwards retired 12 of the next 13 batters and finished the game with five strikeouts and giving up only one walk.
“After those two runs, we put up that run to go ahead, I knew we were going to win,” Edwards said regarding the 2-1 deficit. “I wasn’t going to give up any more runs.”
The team as a whole backed him up with some runs after that second inning deficit. Third baseman Graham Wettersten went 2-4 with a bunt single that scored a run while Mike Siano went 1-4 but hit a crucial two RBI single in the 7th inning to give the Spartans a 5-2 lead and ultimately put Amsterdam to bed.
Right fielder Jack Sylvia also added two hits and two RBI’s and center fielder Mike Guido had one hit of his own to help lead the charge for the Spartan’s comeback.
Queensbury head coach Jay Marra called this win satisfying as he didn’t let his team forget about last year’s early exit. “It’s really satisfying for the boys, we got knocked out of the first round last year…we gave one away, we had a five run lead going to the bottom of the seventh [inning] and I didn’t let them forget it.”
With the win last night, Queensbury will now play the Section III (East Syracuse-Minoa) – Section X (Franklin Academy) sub-regional winner Saturday at either Onondaga Community College or Norwood-Norfolk High School.
