Edison baseball team beats Dryden for fifth straight IAC title

Star Gazette

ELMIRA — The move up to the Interscholastic Athletic Conference Large School Division this year ended up simply changing one word on the trophy for the Thomas A. Edison baseball team.
After winning four consecutive IAC Small School titles, the Spartans captured the Large School championship Wednesday night with a 9-5 victory over Dryden at Dunn Field.
Edison (16-2) scored four runs in the fifth inning to grab a 6-2 lead, then added a run in the sixth and two in the seventh after the Purple Lions cut the lead to 7-4.
Dryden (11-6) scored a run in the seventh inning, with Edison turning a double play to help slow the Purple Lions’ comeback bid.
The game ended when a Dryden player was called out for tossing his helmet as he ran toward second after he thought his fly ball to center field had been caught for the game’s final out.
Brandon Michaud tossed a complete game for Edison, which won the title under first-year coach Zach Brown after he took over for the highly successful Mike Bennett.
“I’m happy for my guys. They worked really hard,” Brown said.
Michaud allowed eight hits, walked two and did not strike out a batter.
Tyler Troccia was 2-for-4 and started two double plays at shortstop, including the one in the seventh inning. Andy Wilkins also had two hits and drove in three runs, including a bases-loaded single in the fifth that brought in all three runners following an error.
Troccia’s two-out single in the third inning gave Edison a 1-0 lead. An RBI single from Wilkins made it a 2-0 game.
“We struggled with their pitcher (John Whitmore), but I thought we kind of figured him out,” Brown said. “About the third inning we really started hitting the ball well. He got to about to 90 pitches and his ball started to elevate and I think we took advantage of him at that point. He was really struggling with his control and we hit some shots.”
Joel Potter was 2-for-3 with three RBIs for Dryden. The teams combined for 12 errors, including seven by Dryden.
The Spartans earned the IAC South title Tuesday with a 16-6 victory against Elmira Notre Dame after winning their final four regular-season games to force a playoff.
“We fell behind Notre Dame early and they beat us a second time. I love the way we just kind of grinded this thing out,” Brown said. “We had a 2-1 win over Waverly in the process, knocked off Tioga going forward. That’s a tough team. Then the big rematch with Notre Dame and then took on a real good Dryden team today. That’s a lot of baseball in a short amount of time and you have to win them.”
Up next for the Spartans will be the Section 4 Class C tournament, where they will be among the top seeds. Sectional play begins next week.