OBSERVER File Photo Kyler Majka of the Chautauqua Lake Thunderbirds pitches during a regular season game.

Record: (5-11 overall, 3-9 league)

Head coach: Bryan Bongiovanni

Seniors: (3) — Devin Pope, Bryce Rowe, Michael Velotta

Key wins: Dunkirk (x2), Falconer (x2), Westfield

Season review: Chautauqua Lake’s baseball season may not have ended the way that former Fredonia star player and current Thunderbirds head coach Bryan Bongiovanni would have hoped, but that doesn’t take anything away from the most impressive moments of the season for the T’Birds. With a season sweep of Dunkirk, along with a win over Westfield and a home playoff win over Falconer after splitting the set during the regular season, Chautauqua Lake had moments where it looked like a very solid team. Even in a loss to CCAA West 1 rival Fredonia, the Thunderbirds were tied 1-1 with the league champion Hillbillies in the seventh inning.

“One frustrating part of our season was that people see 3-9 in league and don’t realize we were a good ballclub,” said Bongiovanni. “We lost four games in the final inning. One moment playing out differently could’ve made every one of those games a different result.”

One constant between the tight game in May against Fredonia and possibly the season’s most thrilling game of all, a 1-0 win at Dunkirk in 9 innings, was pitcher Kyler Majka, who started both games on the mound for the Thunderbirds. The Chautauqua Lake junior in 2018 announced his presence to the league on Friday, April 20, at Dunkirk High School with an incredible performance on the hill. Majka matched Dunkirk’s Devaun Farnham-Dejesus pitch for pitch all afternoon long. Chautauqua Lake’s ace finished with 7 2/3 innings pitched, no runs allowed and 16 strikeouts. He was only removed from the game because of his pitch count.

Devin Pope — no stranger to the big stage in Chautauqua Lake athletic contests — finished off the Marauders in the eighth inning with a strikeout of Farnham-Dejesus, prompting the Chautauqua Lake star senior to gesture to shush the Dunkirk crowd. The Thunderbirds finally pushed across a run in the ninth inning to take the first lead of the game, which Pope finished off in the bottom of the inning to earn the win.

“(Pope) really came in in a tough spot,” said Bongiovanni looking back on the season. “It helps to have a guy like Devin Pope to hand the ball to in situations like that.”

After the thrilling game, Coach Bongiovanni said, “It’s rare to see pitching like that nowadays. It was a pleasure to coach that game.”

Bongiovanni added after the season, “That Dunkirk game was unbelievable. It was the definition of a pitchers’ duel. After about the third inning, I just became a spectator. … It was a playoff atmosphere, even with it being so early in the year.”

Bongiovanni also said after the Dunkirk game, “Kyler Majka … That’s a name a lot of people are going to hear a lot of in the coming years.”

He may be right.

The Chautauqua Lake standout flashed his brilliance against the two biggest schools in the division — Dunkirk and Fredonia — and he should be back next year for Bongiovanni. Majka also plays on a travel club in the offseason, and will also be a member of the Babe Ruth World Series host team this summer, competing against some of the best young stars in the nation. Majka stood out this season, and next year should offer more of the same for the Thunderbirds.

“After seeing all of the work (Majka) puts in during the offseason, it was nice to see that hard work pay off this year,” said Bongiovanni. “People around the league started to notice him after that Dunkirk game and it was nice to see him get the recognition he deserved.”

Chautauqua Lake also achieved its goal from the beginning of the season by winning a home playoff game. In the 3-2 win over Falconer in the first round of the sectional playoffs, Bongiovanni said five freshmen played prominent roles in the game. Though Bongiovanni admitted that replacing Pope and Bryce Rowe will be challenging, he said he is “excited for the future” at Chautauqua Lake.

No doubt, Majka will be a big part of that future.

Twitter: @bradencarmen