Michael Johnson
Way-Co's Evan Englert (middle) gets a hug from head coach Steve Wager following Englert's game tying slide into home on a wild pitch in the bottom of the seventh inning against Fredonia. The game would be called moments later and postponed due to darkness. It will be completed today at 4:30 p.m. in Dansville.
State Baseball Quarterfinals
Way-Co baseball game to be finished today
DANSVILLE — Fans of the Wayland-Cohocton baseball team will have to wait until later today to see if their beloved Eagles can make the state semifinals.
In a wild one yesterday in Dansville, Way-Co, the Section V Class B2 champions, built a 5-1 lead early only to see Section VI champion Fredonia (19-5) rally to take a 7-5 lead in the top of the fifth, only to have Mother Nature wreak havoc for well over an hour before play started back up at 8:15 p.m. as Way-Co rallied with two runs in the bottom of the seventh before darkness settled in and postponed the finish of the state quarterfinal match-up until this afternoon at 4:30 p.m. back at Babcock Park in Dansville.
The game was halted in the top of the sixth inning with Fredonia having scored three runs to take the lead. Heavy downpours and plenty of thunder sent people to their vehicles for an hour-plus wait-a-thon.
Amazingly, Section V baseball coordinator Jim Burke said, “If there was one more crack of thunder, the game would have not been able to finish and the score would have reverted back to the beginning of the inning and Wayland would have won the game. You don’t want it to end that way if you can avoid it so we waited it out and the field crew did an outstanding job getting the field ready. With the conditions, I didn’t think it would be possible.”
Burke was the first to point out that Fredonia baseball coach Vince Gullo “was very classy during the entire delay,” knowing that his team would lose if play didn’t continue.
“He told us this would not have happened anywhere else — that they would have called it,” said Burke.
Way-Co would trail 7-5 in the bottom of the seventh when Cinderella’s glass slipper appeared.
With Tyler Brown on third and Evan Englert on first, Way-Co coach Steve Wager called for the steal of second as Englert hustled down as the throw went into center allowing Brown to score making it 7-6 as Englert made his way to third.
On an 0-2 count with two outs, a wild pitch went to the backstop allowing Englert to score the tying run. The next pitch the Way-Co batter struck out.
The game will be started in the top of the eighth inning with Fredonia batting.
The winner advances to the state semifinals where they will take on Oneonta (Sec. IV) Saturday at 1 p.m. at MacArthur Park in Binghamton.
