When it got off to a 12-1 start and rose as high as no. 2 in the state Class A rankings, expectations for the Jamesville-DeWitt baseball team soared in accordance. Those expectations are tempered after a pair of late-season league setbacks, starting May 2 with a 5-4 defeat to Homer and continuing with last Tuesday’s 9-1 loss to Bishop Ludden. The Gaelic Knights got superb pitching from Zach Walser and Cory Poplawski, who held J-D to five hits and a lone run in the fourth inning, Jimmy Sinopoli driving home Chris Lenish. Ludden, already up 1-0, took control in the bottom of the second with five runs off Sinopoli and added three more runs in the sixth. Defensively, the Rams committed four errors. What made this all the more surprising was that J-D flattened Marcellus 20-1 the day before, getting six runs in the second inning and eight runs in the fourth inning, aided in no small part by the Mustangs’ seven errors. Still, J-D managed 13 hits, including a home run from Chris McGee, who got four RBIs and scored four runs as Sinopoli got three hits and also drove in four runs. Lenish also scored four times, matching John Werbowsky’s two-RBI output as Paul Fitzgibbons scored three runs. Sam Crisalli, Tom Canfield and Xander Ferlenda each drove in two run as Kyle Naugle pitched five innings and earned the win. To put it lightly, J-D did not take this well, and then took it out on Mexico Thursday with one of the biggest blowouts in the program’s history, a 27-1 destruction of the Tigers. J-D warmed up by grabbing an 8-0 lead by the third inning, but then exploded for 13 runs in the top of the fourth, batting around twice as it finished with 25 hits. Chris McGee hit a home run, scored four times and piled up six RBIs overall, while Alex Way went deep for the first time. Lenish, who doubled twice, and Crisalli each had three hits and three RBIs, while Werbowsky, Paul Fitzgibbons and Josh Jaffe drove in two runs apiece. Sinopoli, Canfield and Dylan McGee drove in one run apiece. Ironically, as J-D was losing, CBA was smashing Fulton 19-0. The Brothers put together a 12-run outburst in the top of the seventh inning to break it open. Justin Brennan, with a home run, supplied the biggest blow, adding a career-best five RBIs. Webb Little doubled and drove in three runs, while Andrew Gacek had two doubles and two RBIs. Camillo Spinoso, Mason Garlatti, Sam Little and Tommy Benz each drove in one run as Brad McCaullife pitched three innings for the win and Tim Pierret, in four innings, only allowed one hit. CBA kept this up Thursday in a 13-0 shutout of the same Ludden team that had just conquered J-D. It did so by waiting out pitcher Cory Poplawski until the fifth, when it scored five times to break open a 1-0 game and, for good measure, tacked on five more runs in the sixth. Emmett Dunn, who pitched five innings, and Pierret combined on a two-hit shutout. At the plate, Spinoso had three hits, scored four runs and earned three RBIs. Garlatti and Tim Corapi each drove in two runs, with Gacek and Mike Trasolini each earning one RBI. Yet even this win streak got halted on Friday at St. Denis Field, where CBA lost, 10-4, to the same Homer side it beat 6-0 two weeks earlier. This time around, the Trojans figured out the Brothers’ pitching to the tune of 17 hits as it broke out of a 3-3 tie with two runs in the fourth and four more runs in the top of the fifth. Jake Hayes, who went four-for-four and scored four runs, and Jake Casey, who had three hits and four RBIs, led Homer’s assault, while CBA, in defeat, got two RBIs apiece from Garlatti and Brennan. East Syracuse-Minoa got swept in a doubleheader against Cortland. The first game went 9-0 as the Purple Tigers took charge with five runs in the fourth inning off Joel Clark, who took the loss. The Spartans managed just three hits off Cortland ace Brian Hughes, who struck out 12. In the second game, ESM did get on the board, but still lost 9-3 to Cortland, the Purple Tigers scoring in five of the first six innings and chasing Spartans starter Brandon Breen. Clark, Breen and Nick Cesarini each had one RBI as Cortland’s Andrew Babcock drove in a pair of runs. The Spartans’ struggles continued Thursday in a 5-1 defeat to Homer, where a four-run second inning made the difference for the Trojans. Other than that, Greg Fingar pitched well, but ESM only managed a fourth-inning RBI from Daren Dunnewold that scored Jack Burgan and got just four hits off Homer ace Jake Tracy. Finally, ESM’s slump ended in Saturday’s 6-5, eight-inning victory over Chittenango, where the Spartans (5-10) blew s 5-0 fourth-inning lead, but recovered to get the winning run in the bottom of the eighth. Fingar had two RBIs, while Burgan, Breen, Clark and Mike Gigliotti each had one RBI. Matt Hunter got the win in relief of Mike Hearn and Steve Loder.