Lansing baseball makes magical run to state final

The Lansing baseball program has a proud history, exemplified by a 2012 state championship under illustrious head coach Stuart Dean. Eleven years on and with Dean’s assistant coach Brett Hotchkiss now at the helm, the Bobcats made it back to the promised land.

The road to the state final was filled with adversity. Despite a 13-4 regular season record, the Bobcats came into the Section IV Class B tournament as only the sixth seed due to mainly playing Class C opponents in the IAC. It was certainly a new challenge for Lansing moving up a class, but it didn’t faze them one bit. The Bobcats won their second straight sectional title with a 7-3 win over Chenango Forks.

What also makes this team unique from last season is that they only have one senior in Zack Sperger. The Bobcats’ ace has been a consistent and steady force on the mound all season long, and that continued into the playoffs, allowing no earned runs in the sectional final. Sperger credited the experience he had playing summer ball to thriving in the postseason.

“I’m gonna go out there and control what I can control,” Sperger said. “I don’t really change too much. I’ve done it all year. Especially with summer ball and playing on such a great travel team with Northeast Pride and [head coach] Joe Curreri, I’m really in those situations all the time. There’s nothing higher stakes than the national championship in the summer down in Florida in Jupiter, and just coming here, it’s second nature.”

The Bobcats have had to rely heavily on Sperger’s pitching this postseason, as their next two starters in the pecking order—Henrik Axelson and Jaxson Mayo—both suffered injuries before the state tournament. That also meant multiple players from the junior varsity team who were called up to boost the roster would see increased roles in the lineup, including freshman Alex Boles as designated hitter and eighth grader Logan Mayo playing at third base. Hotchkiss praised his younger players for making a monumental impact.

“Those guys do a really good job of just being passionate about the game of baseball and competing,” Hotchkiss said. “These guys just love to play baseball, and they continue to play. You’re always worried about the outcome, but I think they really bought into this idea of not focusing on the outcome before it’s there. They really spend their time focusing on what’s the task ahead of them. They’ve done a really good job of just focusing on trying to continue to play good baseball for seven innings.”

Lansing’s youth really stepped up during their regional matchup against Section III’s Skaneateles at Mirabito Stadium. Down 3-2 heading into the final inning, Hotchkiss took a gamble and sent pinch hitter Liam Coleman up to the plate to lead things off. In his first career varsity at-bat, the sophomore hit a single, ultimately sparking his fellow sophomores to help pull off a remarkable comeback victory. Ryan Pettograsso-Houk tied the game up with a two-out RBI single, and one batter later, Korbin Lovejoy won it with a walk-off hit.

The following week the Bobcats were back in Binghamton for the state semifinals against Section I’s Albertus Magnus, and they faced more adversity even before they took the field. Lansing was supposed to play at Union-Endicott High School, but the rain made the conditions unplayable, meaning their game was moved to Binghamton University and would eventually get underway two hours and 40 minutes later than originally scheduled. To make matters more daunting, the Bobcats were down 2-0 heading into the sixth inning. 

But the comeback kids did it again.

Lovejoy once again came up clutch, delivering a game-tying two-run triple. Then Avery Wells stepped up to the plate and drove in Lovejoy with a bunt single, which ended up being the winning run to send the Bobcats to their first state championship game since the immortal 2012 team.

“We just don’t give up,” Pettograsso-Houk said. “We trust the process. We put the work in at practice. We don’t take any days off. We’re always there. We’re always working. People are always trying to just put the ball in play and get it done.”

Lansing returned to Binghamton University a day later on June 10 for a shot at glory against Section VI’s Depew. Heading into the bottom of the sixth inning, a second state title seemed to be in sight with a 4-1 lead. But the tables were turned on them, as the Wildcats pulled off an incredible comeback of their own, scoring four runs in the inning and ultimately holding on 5-4 to break the Bobcats’ hearts.

While it was a bitter end to a magnificent season for Lansing baseball, the future is certainly bright with all but one player returning. For at least the next few years, don’t be surprised to see the Bobcats back in the thick of another state title run.