Railroaders’ seasons comes to an end

By Dan King

Despite regular-season domination over the past two years, the sectional tournament has not been friendly to the Whitehall baseball team.

In last year’s tournament, the Railroaders came in as Adirondack League champs only to be downed by the Galway Eagles, 8-1. That trend continued last Thursday as the Railroaders were defeated, 8-7, in a back-and-forth contest with Maple Hill.

Whitehall came into the game as the No. 2 seed in Section II Class C, while the Wildcats came in as the No. 10 seed.

Those seeds looked like they were going to hold true, as Whitehall jumped out to an explosive start in the first inning. After starting pitcher Tyler Thomas held the Wildcats scoreless in the top half of the first, the Railroaders recorded five runs in the bottom half.

Chad Amerio and Justin Hoagland both singled, then Amerio was driven in by a single by Thomas up the middle. After a walk to Christian Poczobut loaded the bases, Seth Martindale’s infield single scored another run to make it 2-0. Then freshman Dan St. Clair hit a fly ball that dropped in over the center fielder’s head to score three more runs.

The Wildcats got a run back in the second inning with two outs, making it 5-1 Whitehall. However, the Railroaders got that run right back in the bottom on the second on another RBI single from Thomas up the middle, making it 6-1.

Neither team created any offense in the third inning and Maple Hill made a pitching change, bringing in the hard-throwing Anthony Butler, who was playing catcher until that point. That proved to be the turning point in the game as Butler put the Railroaders down 1-2-3 in his first inning of work.

The Wildcats’ offense exploded in the top of the fourth as Maple Hill managed two runs off Thomas to make it 6-3 and Whitehall decided to switch to Poczobut on the mound. A few passed balls from Poczobut and catcher Julian Barber brought the Wildcats into a 6-6 tie with the Railroaders.

In the bottom half of the inning, the Railroaders tried to get a run back when Hoagland hit a two-out double, but Butler struck out Barber to end the threat.

Neither team scored in the fifth.

In the sixth, Maple Hill took its first lead of the game. With a runner on second and one out, a hit to right center scored one run. Poczobut was pulled in favor of Derek Thomas, who surrendered another run with an RBI single.

Whitehall score one more run in its half of the sixth as St. Clair hit a ground-rule double and was driven in by a double off the fence by Amerio. However, Barber was struck out by Butler to leave Amerio stranded.

Thomas hunkered down in the top of the seventh, giving Whitehall a chance. Unfortunately for Whitehall, Butler continued his success on the mound, striking out Tyler Thomas and Poczobut, then getting Martindale to pop-out to right to end the game.

Maple Hill now goes to the semi-finals at Geyser Park in Clifton Park, to play Fort Plain, which upset the No. 3 seed Rensselaer Rams.

Whitehall (9-1, 14-4) finished second in the Adirondack League, behind Fort Ann, which handed the Railroaders their only league loss this season.