OBSERVER Photo by Jon Feniello Pictured are the North Collins Eagles at the New York State Public High School Athletic Association Class D baseball championships in Binghamton.

BINGHAMTON — The North Collins Eagles held a 4-2 lead over the Fort Ann Cardinals going into the bottom of the seventh, only to see the Cardinals respond with three runs to win the New York State Public High School Athletic Association championship, 5-4.

After a leadoff single, Jon Allen and Garrett Bailey hit deep triples which eventually tied the game at four. After a walk and an intentional walk, an error on a routine ground ball was booted away that allowed the winning run to score with two outs in the bottom of the seventh.

“It is unfortunate that the game ended with an error,” North Collins coach Paul Kellner said.

“We did well strategically and I liked our chances after we intentionally walked their batter. We forced a ground ball that cut down the runner at home, but did not handle a regular play that we have several times during the year.”

North Collins started off strong, scoring the game’s first run in the second. After Tanner Loretto walked, Harley Mehnert hit a double to the fence to score Loretto on the play. The Eagles continued their hot hitting by adding another run in the fourth inning. Loretto again led off the inning with a walk. After a sacrifice by Nathan Turnbull moved Loretto up 90 feet and Nick Woronowski came through with an RBI triple. “Nick has been doing great at the plate lately,” Kellner stated. “He works hard and it is beginning to show with great results.”

Fort Ann (20-2) recorded its first run in the fifth. After a walk and sacrifice, Jake Beber hit an RBI double.

North Collins (15-6) was able to respond with two runs of its own in the sixth. After Turnbull was hit by a pitch, Mehnert replaced him at first after hitting into a fielder’s choice. Mehnert reached second on an error by the second baseman who overthrew first on a double play attempt and advanced to third on a passed ball. Mehnert was then able to score after an error on Worronowski’s hit to the shortstop on an errant throw home. Josh Schmit then came through with an RBI triple. However, the Eagles could not bring him around to score.

The Cardinals responded with one run in the sixth. After a great double play turned by the middle infield, Fort Ann responded with three consecutive hits, but only managed to get one run.

The Eagles’ Brandon Zielinski went the distance, pitching 6 2/3 innings giving up five runs on 11 hits, while striking out six. According to Kellner, “Zielinski pitched well enough for us to win. We did not make the plays behind him and gave up three runs that we should not have. The top of their order had some great hits as well.”

Bailey Garrett pitched the complete game for Fort Ann, giving up four runs on four hits, while walking four and striking out seven.

The four Eagles hits came from Zielinski’s single, Mehnert’s double and triples by Woronowaki and Schmit. The Eagles stranded seven runners today with most of the stranded runners being in scoring position.

North Collins will lose five starters and eight seniors total. Dylon Mercado, Dylan Winter, Nathan Turnbull, Harley Mehnert, Josh Schmit, John Fera, Henrik Vapulla, and Arthur Machado played their last game as an Eagle today.

“This loss hurts,” said Kellner. “I thought the kids deserved this. I’m proud of where we are as a program. We did things that we never did before. Winning the league, sectional, regional, and advancing to the state championship is a great accomplishment. These are great kids to be around. We will certainly miss these seniors and everything they have done, but the bar is set high for next year’s team. We have made the North Collins community proud and they have done a great job supporting us. The boys might not understand what they have accomplished this year today, but in the future, they will look back and appreciate the run that they made.”