Williamsville East scored 11 runs in the bottom of the first inning versus West Seneca West (WSW) Thursday afternoon in route to their 13-6 victory in the Section VI Class A1 Final at Kenmore West High School.
Sam Pastore and Joe Mack each hit two-run dingers off starting pitcher Evan Benkleman to power the Flames into the championship game, to be played Saturday against Lancaster. “We really wanted to give our pitcher some run support early,” Pastore said after the big win. The double-digit lead certainly helped calm the nerves of Gunnar Weppner who went on to pitch for six strong innings before giving way to senior Tanner Gillis who closed out the contest.
B1 | .@gaszball up 11-0 on @WestSenecaWest1 Pastore and Joe Mack each with HR’s. Chase Chodkowski now in to pitch for the Indians. @SectionVI Class A Finals @WNYTomPrince @Sec_VI_Baseball — Frank Wolf (@wolf3328) May 24, 2018
Weppner finished the day with six K’s including two in the sixth inning. The sophomore started the game throwing six consecutive balls but then Weppner quickly settled down and went to work. After striking out the next two Indians hitters Anthony DeJoseph and Patrick Cardenuto, quick thinking catcher Drew Elliott fired a missile down to third base and Joey Mack slapped a tag down on the base stealer Chase Chadkowski for the final out of the inning.
Then the floodgates opened. The first eight Will-East hitters all reached base before WSW recorded their first out. All eight would also cross the plate, Dylan Lobdell, Charlie and Joe Mack all scored twice in the first inning. The Flames chased Benkleman and Chodkowski came in with two down. He struck out Elliott in four pitches.
The Indians first hitter to reach base was Connor Schermerhorn who drew a walk in the bottom half of the second inning. Schermerhorn reached second on a wild pitch. WSW had a runner in scoring position but could not move him home as Will East converted the double play two batters later.
Chodkowski made quick work of the Flames in the second, not allowing any hits or walks.
In the bottom of the third the Indians made some noise at the dish. Batting in the nine spot, Josh Ball hit a lead-off single for WSW and then Chodkowski was walked. DeJoseph hit into a fielder’s choice that moved both runners to second and third. Next was a base hit to left field by Cardenuto. An awful exchange between Charlie Mack and the first basemen led to the Indians first run as Ball scored on the error. Weppner then got the next batter to hit into a double play to end the Indians threat, stranding two runners.
The Flames added two more runs in the bottom third thanks to Charlie Mack’s two-run homer that cleared the left field wall by a mile. It was Chodkowski’s first hit given up. Unfazed by the dinger Chodkowski continued to attack the heart of the Will East lineup, striking out Joe Mack and then Pastore to end the inning.
In the fourth, WSW picked up where they left off collecting three runs to narrow the gap 13-4. “This is a resilient bunch,” WSW head coach Jeff Helmbrecht said after the game. In just his first year as the Indians skip, Helmbrecht did a great job with a relatively young team in a very short time. “We’re making moves now and the guys know what it feels like to get here and what it takes to get to the next level.”
Chodkowski in particular, just a junior is someone Helmbrecht will look to next season to help carry the team forward. “He’s been a bulldog and a grinder for us all year. We used him yesterday to get here and wanted to bring him in as a reliever.” Unfortunately for WSW they ran into the hitting machine known as Williamsville East. But to Chodkowski and the rest of the Indians they found a way to silence the Flames from the fourth inning on. Chodkowski surrendered just two hits in the final three innings and racked up six K’s in his five innings of work.
Weppner gave way to Gillis in the top of the seventh. WSW continued to grind and plated
two more runs in the final inning but just ran out of gas. Mike Wolf caught a routine fly ball in right field for the second out and then threw a dart home catching DeJoseph attempting to tag up for the final out.
Charlie Mack was a triple-shy of hitting for the cycle going 3-4 with 3 RBI’s while brother Joe went 2-4 with a homer and a single and three RBI’s. Pastore’s first inning homerun was a three-run shot.
Coach Jerry Gasz in his 43 season as the Williamsville East head coach captured his 12th sectional title and it’s the Flames second the past three years. “We have a really solid team with a good group of seniors,” Gasz said. “We’re going to be tough to beat. I give West Seneca a lot of credit today. They had a rough inning but played hard until the end.”
WSW were the underdogs all season and it was the same story in these playoff’s. The Indians knocked off heavily favored Grand Island and then Hamburg to reach the A1 finals. You can say that the turnaround this year began when Helmbrecht took over and a lot of that is true, especially for this squad. But the momentum from the fall with the football team capturing a State title and then the magical run this winter by both boys ice-hockey and basketball teams played a key role in the Indians confidence late in the season. The success of those teams have created a buzz in the school and the student-athletes have risen to the challenge of competing for Sectional titles once again.
The Flames will battle Maryvale on Saturday. The Flyers defeated Lew-Port 10-8 in the Class A2 final.
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