Ellicottville Baseball Cinderella Story Ends
Ellicottville Baseball Cinderella Story Ends
#5-Ranked Eagles Play for Title Despite Losing Record
Photos / Rich Rumfola
Having lost the last six regular-season contests in a row, and sporting a 5-13 overall record, it seemed about a 50-50 shot that the Eagles wouldn’t make it past their opening round matchup at Brocton. The way it actually played out is that the Eagles were just one more great day away from winning the whole thing and moving on to the Far West Regionals versus the winner of Section V. The following is a game-by-game account of their recent playoff run.
CLASS D QUARTERFINAL ROUND
#4 Brocton vs. #5 Ellicottville, Monday, May 23 at Brocton Senior HS
Ellicottville’s diamond dogs found themselves in the semifinal round by virtue of a dramatic, 11-7, come-from-behind, upset victory over the Brocton Bulldogs on Tuesday, May 23 in the quarterfinal round at Brocton.
When the game began, the Brocton starting pitcher was simply not up for the challenge and was unable to find the strike zone before he was replaced in the first inning with no outs yet recorded, the bases loaded with Eagles, and the visitors ahead by three runs.
The Eagles punched a total of six runs across home plate in the top of the first, but right away in the bottom of the inning, the home team Bulldogs scored three runs of their own and chipped away at the Ellicottville lead until a 6-0 Eagles surplus turned into a 7-6 Brocton lead by the end of the third inning.
After the huge offensive outburst to begin the contest, Eagles bats fell silent and the Bulldogs held the visitors at bay until the final stanza, when yet another Brocton pitcher lost the strike zone and got shelled by Eagles batters for five more runs.
Senior pitcher Caedon Wyatt tossed the complete game for the visiting Eagles, striking out five and overcoming an unsightly five defensive errors behind him that led to five unearned runs early on and probably a much closer contest than it should’ve been. In the game, Wyatt tossed 125 pitches (69 for strikes) and completely shut down the Bulldogs’ offensive attack over the final four innings, giving the Eagles the chance to come back with the big five-run seventh inning that propelled them into the semifinal round.
“The thing about Caedon, he’s a senior and he’s always going to fight until the end,” said Eagles coach Chris Mendell. “I told him it’s a long game and to stay in there and keep grinding (and he did) and he gave us the chance to win.”
For the afternoon, the Eagles’ offense was paced by junior first baseman Emmett Jacobson-Coolidge and senior outfielder Christian Swalcy. Coolidge went 3-4 at the plate, including two runs batted in and two runs scored, while Swalcy came up big with two hits in four trips to the plate, scoring once and driving in another run.
Outfielder Owen Chudy filled the stat sheet on his batting line with a 1-3 performance at the plate. The junior scored once, walked once and drove in a pair of runs, including the eventual game-winner on a fielder’s choice in Ellicottville’s huge, seventh inning comeback.
Senior outfielder Ian Zeher also brought home two base runners with a 1-3 day at the plate.
CLASS D SEMIFINAL ROUND
#5 Ellicottville vs. #8 Barker, Wednesday, May 25 at Ellicottville Central School
Proving the old adage that there’s something special about the coach’s kid, freshman pitcher Cameron Mendell took the ball to start the game and then took it home with him as a trophy seven innings later, after leading his team to a 6-3 victory over the visiting Barker Raiders in the semi’s and a berth in the Class D championship game.
The youngest player on the field that day, Mendell stepped up big-time in the biggest game of his life, limiting the visitors from the shores of Lake Ontario to just three runs scored on four hits and four walks in the complete-game win for Ellicottville.
“It feels pretty good,” the young pitcher admitted after the game. Smiling broadly, he added, “The whole season’s been a rough ride and now it’s finally coming together and it’s just the best feeling in the world to me.”
Mendell found the strike zone with nearly 60 percent of his 110 pitches. He kept the visiting Raiders’ batters off-balance throughout the entire game with a steady mix of breaking balls; he struck out six.
“For a freshman, the moment’s not too big for him,” Coach Mendell said of his son after the win. “He proved that throughout the year and he proved it again today.”
Almost as impressive as his pitching performance was, the young pitcher also accounted for all the run support he would need in the game. As the Eagles’ leadoff batter, Mendell went 2-4 at the plate, scoring four times and driving in one more run. Without finishing his thought, Coach Mendell implied that things generally don’t work out so well in a game of this magnitude with all that pressure being put on the shoulders of such a youthful player.
“Typically, with a playoff game - a semifinal game - if you hand the ball to a freshman to start the game, well, you know…” Mendell admitted, then quickly added, “But I never had any second thoughts - he’s got a rare talent and he showed that again - both at the plate and on the mound.”
Aside from Mendell’s big day at the plate, other Eagles swinging the hot bat included junior catcher Hunter Smith and senior centerfielder Gian Nuzzo, each of whom racked up a pair of hits that scored baserunners. Smith also chipped in with a pair of stolen bases.
With the Eagles stubbornly clinging to a 5-3 lead in the bottom of the sixth inning, Mendell doubled to left-center field, then Smith came up to bat right behind him and stroked a booming shot down the left field line that scored Mendell and put the visitors deeper in the hole for their final at-bats in the seventh.
Nuzzo’s base knock in the first inning plated Mendell and gave the home team the early 1-0 lead.
CLASS D CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND
#2 North Collins vs. #5 Ellicottville, Saturday, May 27 at JCC
As for the Class D championship game held at Diethrick Park on the campus of Jamestown Community College, having watched the No. 5 seed Eagles play in their previous two playoff games, their 11-1 loss in six innings to No. 2 seed North Collins could only be described as an anomaly, where everything that could go wrong did go wrong - at least two or three times.
For starters, the Eagles managed only two hits in six innings versus North Collins fireballer, Derek Ebersol, who fanned 11 Ellicottville batters and walked only two. Ebersole also hit a pair of batters with pitches, one of which led to the only run of the day for Ellicottville.
Trailing 7-0 after the second inning, Ellicottville scored in the top of the sixth to erase the zero from their side of the scoreboard when catcher Hunter Smith came home after first baseman Emmett Jacobson-Coolidge got plunked by a pitch with the bases loaded. Then in the bottom of the sixth and leading 7-1, North Collins plated four more baserunners to get the win by 10 runs.
Despite finishing the 2023 campaign with a 7-14 record overall and 3-7 in Class D competition, the Eagles were just one more great day away from winning the whole thing and moving on to the Far West Regionals versus the winner of Section V.
Offensively this season, Ellicottville was led by junior slugger Hunter Smith, who recorded a .321 batting average in 51 at-bats. Smith also led the team in stolen bases (21) and tied with Cameron Mendell for the lead in runs scored (22). He only struck out seven times the whole season long.
Gian Nuzzo also enjoyed a big season at the plate in 2023, as the senior center fielder/pitcher went 14-52 at the plate, including a triple and two home runs. When there were Eagles on the basepaths, Nuzzo was absolutely clutch at the plate, driving in a team-high 20 runs. He also scored 15 runs and walked 10 times.
From the time they were very young, brothers Caedon and Braylon Wyatt provided each other with plenty of athletic competition, with one or the other always finishing in first or second place. Their senior season of baseball was no different, as the two finished neck-and-neck on the offensive stat sheets. Caedon’s batting average of .250 was a scant six percentage points better than brother Braylon’s .244 and to continue on that theme, Caedon walked once more than Braylon (11-10) but also struck out one more time than his brother (20-19). Caedon outpaced Braylon by three hits (13-10) and three RBI (14-11). Both players were hit by a pitch exactly eight times and each recorded a sac-fly. By now, you may have noticed the trend…
As the team’s leadoff batter, freshman Cameron Mendell might’ve liked to see his batting average a little better than the .220 mark he finished with, but his amazing number of walks (17) was about 30 percent better than his closest teammates.
One of the true functions of any good leadoff hitter is the ability to see lots of pitches by not swinging at balls and fouling off marginal strikes. In this way, his teammates on the bench get a good look at what the other team’s pitcher is trying to accomplish and with 17 walks and 22 hits to his credit, Mendell made a very effective batter to have at the top of the order.
One of the oldest, truest sayings in baseball is that good pitching beats good hitting and in their first two playoff games, the Eagles definitely had the better pitchers.
Throughout the regular season, Caedon Wyatt was the team’s ace, and he logged a 3-3 won/loss record and pitched to a 3.84 ERA over 42 1/3 innings of work. He faced 247 batters in 2023, giving up 23 earned runs on 45 hits, striking out 48 and walking 50.
Cameron Mendell, the Eagles’ number two starter this season, pitched to a 4.07 ERA over 34 2/3 innings of work and finished with a 2-4 record. He also recorded the team’s only save this season. The freshman hurler tossed 647 pitches to 171 batters, striking out 31, walking 35 and giving up 20 earned runs.