“I’m really proud of Nick and Alex for gettting the bunts down in pressure situations, it won the game for us,” said Fredonia head coach Vince Gullo.

Other than the late inning heroics, the game was very much a pitchers duel. Trey Swartz was on the hill for Fredonia and pitched a complete game, only allowing three hits and two walks, while striking out 10. For Silver Creek/Forestville, Spencer Harford was equally as impressive, pitching all seven innings, giving up three hits and three walks, while striking out five batters.

“Trey on the mound did a fantastic job,” said Coach Gullo. “As did [Silver Creek/Forestville’s] Harford, both pitchers are unhittable.”

Silver Creek/Forestville got on the board in the second inning, as Travis Drozdziel made his way around the bases with a walk, then sac bunt and was finally knocked home by an Ethan Brunner RBI single, making it 1-0. Trey Swartz helped his own cause in the fourth inning after getting on with a 2-out walk, then stealing second which led to an RBI single from Troy Lanski. Lanski went 2-2 for the ‘Billies, had a walk, two stolen bases, an RBI and a run scored.

OBSERVER Photo by Ron Szot. Above, Silver Creek/Forestville’s Travis Drozdziel (white) beats a play at the plate during Monday’s game in Fredonia.

The Black Knights regained the lead in the sixth inning, as Nik Dawley hit a lead off single. Dawley made his way around the base paths with aggressive baserunning, eventually stealing home to give Silver Creek/Forestville the 2-1 lead that held until the seventh inning.

Fredonia’s bottom of the order came up huge in the seventh inning, seeing Lanski and Dominic Gullo score — along with excellent bunts from Whitfield and Rush, to sneak out a big league win over the Black Knights, 3-2.

“Nice to see our bottom of the order, all of the young guys coming through in the seventh inning,” said Coach Gullo. “The guys are very excited.”

Fredonia stays undefeated in league action, but will add in another nonleague game on Thursday when they travel to St. Francis.

The Black Knights will try to get back in the win column today as they head to Falconer.

Southwestern 5, Dunkirk 2

LAKEWOOD — Aidan Kennedy struck out the final Dunkirk batter with the bases loaded in the top of the seventh inning as Southwestern hung on for a 5-2 Division 1 West victory at Packard Field.

Mitchell Pascarella threw 6 2/3 innings, striking out 11 while walking two and allowing five hits, but reached his pitch limit when Jared Glowniak hit an RBI single to make it 5-2 with two outs in the seventh. Kennedy then walked a batter to load the bases with the possible tying run at first base before his strikeout ended the contest.

The Trojans (5-4, 3-3) took the lead with a three-run third inning. No. 8 hitter Aidan Melquist singled before Luke Tota was hit by a pitch. Jack Brinkley then reached on a sacrifice bunt that loaded the bases before Melquist scored on a wild pitch and Kennedy hit a sacrifice fly. Brinkley eventually scored on an error.

Southwestern added two more runs in the fourth inning on a throwing error after a fly out to right field.

Koty Leeper went 3 for 3 and Tristan Skelly drove in a run while Peyton Ahlstrom went five innings on the mound, allowing two hits and striking out four for the Marauders.

Cassadaga Valley 5, Maple Grove 4

SINCLAIRVILLE — Mack Mikula scored the winning run on a wild pitch in the bottom of the seventh inning as Cassadaga Valley picked up its first win of the season, 5-4, over nonleague Maple Grove on Monday.

Mikula opened the inning with a base-hit bunt and went all the way to third base when an error was committed on Nick Russo’s sacrifice bunt. With Connor Crabtree at the plate, Mikula scored the winning run on an errant delivery from the mound.

David Peterson and Adam Goot each had an RBI single during a two-run fifth inning that gave the Cougars (1-5, 0-3 CCAA D1 West) a 4-2 lead.

The Red Dragons (5-2, 4-0 CCAA D2 West) tied the game in the top of the seventh inning on Tyler McPherson’s two-out, two-run single.

Peterson and Trent Gugino each had a pair of singles while Brandon Rodriguez added a double for Cassadaga Valley. Goot struck out nine in five innings on the hill.

Taige Jones had a double in defeat.

Falconer 1,

Chautauqua Lake 0

MAYVILLE — Despite a dominant performance from Kyler Majka, the Chautauqua Lake Thunderbirds dropped a tough 1-0 decision to Falconer in eight innings Monday in CCAA West 1 high school baseball.

Majka went 6 1/3 innings on the hill, striking out 11 and scattering five hits.

“Kyler was excellent again tonight,” Chautauqua Lake coach Bryan Bongiovanni said. “He always gives us a chance to win when he’s on the mound. We feed off his energy and confidence. Cody Triana came in with the game on the line and pitched very well. That’s not an easy situation to be in.”

In the eighth inning, after a lead-off walk to Ryan Stimson and Bobby Samuelson taking one for the team to put runners on first and second, Stimson scored on a dropped fly ball for the deciding run.

Cody Triana was the tough-luck losing pitcher, hurling 1 2/3 innings giving up just one unearned run.

Mark Wilcox was credited with the win, pitching 1 1/3 inning and a strikeout. Falconer’s Ben Schrader was the starting pitcher for Falconer, going 6 2/3 innings with eight Ks and just three hits.

“We’ve played five league games and lost three of them by one run in extra innings,” Bongiovanni concluded. “We have to stop beating ourselves and start doing the little things well. Those habits are formed in practice. Everyone has to hold themselves accountable and stick together.”

Gowanda 18, Portville 2

PORTVILLE — Returning from break, Gowanda (4-0, 8-1) baseball got hot in a hurry, beating Portville 18-2, in a Section VI CCAA Division 1 East baseball game at Portville High School, on Monday.

“Not easy coming off break,” said Gowanda head coach Tim Smith. “For the first day back.. I was worried how we were going to come back. They scored their two in the bottom of the first, I thought it was going to be back and forth. Tanner Olson stepped up, pretty much everybody contributed to the win — it was a good team effort.”

The Panthers offense was led by Tanner Olson 2-5 with a double and three RBI; Gavin Phillips 2-3 with three RBI; Matt Smuda 2-3 with two RBI; Justin Kohn 2-3 with a triple and three RBI; and J.D. Driscoll added a double with three RBI.

Tanner Olson was on the hill for the win, pitching five innings, allowing five hits, four walks, two earned runs and striking out four.

Gowanda will look to stay undefeated in league play on Thursday as they travel to Alleghany-Limestone.

Brocton 3, Clymer/Sherman 0

BROCTON — Ronald Brown was dominant on the mound, as Brocton (3-0, 3-3) defeated Clymer/Sherman, 3-0, in a Section VI CCAA Division 2 West baseball game at Brocton High School, on Monday. The Bulldogs got all the runs they would need in the first inning, as Brown would not allow a run in his dominant performance on the hill.

“It was definitely a pitchers duel,” said Brocton head coach Rob Fetterick. “Obviously, we know we have a stud in Bubba. Offensively, we need to find our bats. “When we’ve got a guy on the mound who can throw strikes… we need to get the bats going as the season goes on.”

Brown’s performance was highlighted with 13 strikeouts, one walk and only three hits through seven innings pitched. The Pirates went with Lucas Willink on the mound, and saw him go 5 1/3 innings pitched with two earned runs over five hits, three walks and seven strikeouts.

The Bulldogs offense was powered by Gabe Morello going 2-2, scoring two runs, walking once and stealing a base; Brown added an RBI double; Michael Steward went 1-3 and Derrick Burns had an RBI.

“Struggling right now at the plate,” stated Fetterick. “We’re going to take the challenge on in full steam. We’re hoping we can get the whole lineup breaking out at the same time.”

Clymer/Sherman saw a big hit from Garrett McClelland as he went 1-3.

The Bulldogs are back in action Thursday when they host Panama.

Clymer/Sherman takes on Pine Valley today.

Ellicottville 8,

Pine Valley 5

ELLICOTTVILLE — Despite walking 14 Pine Valley batters, Ellicottville pulled out an 8-5 Division 2 East victory.

The Panthers led 4-1 early, but the Eagles (2-5, 1-2) used a seven-run fifth inning to take the lead for good. Kaleb Pierce hit a two-run double to tie the game at 4-all.

Brett Kryniski had a sacrifice fly and a fielder’s choice to drive in a pair of runs while Wyatt Chudy added a single and an RBI. On the mound for Ellicottville, Lucas Marsh struck out six in 4 1/3 innings while Harrison Newark and Steven Rowland each struck out a pair.

Brennan Sercu had an RBI single and also walked four times, forcing in another run. Corey Ellis struck out five and allowed just one hit in four innings on the mound for Pine Valley (0-8, 0-5).