NEW SCOTLAND — Senior Alex Paigo won Monday’s game for Voorheesville with a two-run home run on a day when he and his fellow senior teammates were honored.

The Blackbirds had built a five-run lead against Watervliet in the fifth inning at Swift Park, but the visiting Cannoneers — sporting just three wins on the season — clawed back with two runs in the sixth and four more in the seventh to put Voorheesville against the wall. Colin Murray had the big hit, clearing the bases with a three-run double to a gap in the outfield.

Until Paigo stepped to the plate minutes later. With Conor Hennessy on base, Paigo sent a rocket to left centerfield that disappeared past the fence. His Voorheesville teammates waited for him to get to home plate, only to mob him on arrival.

“I hadn’t been swinging [the bat] well all game,” said Paigo after his walk-off home run; a walk-off is anything that the home team wins on its last at bat. Paigo said he was looking for a good pitch to hit after striking out, drawing a walk, and popping out on his three previous at bats on Monday.

“We got the win, and that’s all that matters,” Paigo added. Voorheesville increased its record to 11-5.

Senior Joe Guerette, who had a two-run walk-off home run against Schalmont earlier in the season, and drew a walk before Paigo came to bat on Monday, said that Voorheesville always finds a way. “It’s the entire team,” he said. “Everyone puts it together.”

If Voorheesville is down in the seventh inning, Head Coach Kyle Turski expects his team to come back. “I feel like we could have won every game,” he said. “I know the talent here, top to bottom, and the expectation is to win.”

Turski took the microphone after the game to call the Voorheesville seniors — Paigo, Guerette, Zach Childs, Kristian Singh, Kyle Payne, Collin Patterson, and Alex Minnick — out to the infield with their parents in arms. Turski said that these young men had been part of about 350 baseball games together growing up.

But there was one other senior, David Cardona, that wasn’t with Voorheesville on Monday, and therefore not honored for his efforts with the team over the years. Cardona had recently been suspended for his involvement in a vandalism case at the school with three other senior athletes — Shane Parry, Robert Denman, and Ian Kundel.

“Dave is a kid who has gotten us through, so we’re not going to turn our backs on him,” Turski said. “He’s part of our team no matter what — part of the team from the beginning.”

Coach Turski didn’t know if or when Cardona would come back to play baseball for Voorheesville this season, and it’s really not his decision to make. “Everyone makes mistakes,” said the coach. “I don’t know anybody who hasn’t made a mistake.”

^{_{Tom Gallager takes a pitch for Voorheesville during Monday’s game against Watervliet at Swift Park. The Birds won, 9 to 8, on a walk-off home run by Alex Paigo. The Enterprise — Jordan J. Michael}}

Paigo and Guerette didn’t comment on Cardona, but Guerette, who recently signed his intent to play baseball at the College of Saint Rose next year, said, “If there’s ever any negatives getting us down, we always try to come back up. We’ve always found light at the end of the tunnel.”

Last season, while making a run for its third sectional championship in a row — Voorheesville eventually lost in the finals to Fonda on a walk-off walk — another senior, Zach Childs, had to be excused from the team and never came back. Childs’ situation was much different from what Cardona is facing now, Turski said, but there’s no denying that both players were and are very important to the Birds’ success. And then there’s Nick Chiseri, Voorheesville’s dominant pitcher, who has missed most of the season due to arm soreness.

But Voorheesville has bounced back from adversity plenty of times before, and probably will again as it eyes another title in 2015. Turski said the Blackbirds wouldn’t know what to do without some danger.

“We need a little bit,” he said. “Because we always smack it back in the face.”

^{_{Dirt rising: John Moreau slides into home plate for Voorheesville, tying the game, 2 to 2, in the third inning; he tagged up from third base on a fly out to center field by Kristian Singh. Watervliet catcher Jimmy Griffin reaches out to catch the ball, but the throw was late. The Enterprise — Jordan J. Michael}}