VOORHEESVILLE — The Voorheesville baseball team picked up a much-needed win on Friday, and did it with solid play.

The Blackbirds played strong defense behind pitcher Joe Berschwinger to beat Cobleskill, 5-2, on a game that was moved to the satellite field because the Birds’ regular field was not playable.
"I expected this from this team from the beginning of the year," said Voorheesville Coach Hank Czerwinski. "We got solid defense and timely hitting."

The win was a big one for the Blackbirds and was the third in a row after they dropped six straight games before that. Voorheesville beat Broadalbin-Perth in a non-league game last Tuesday and beat Albany Academy last Wednesday.

However, the Blackbirds lost to Lansingburgh, 8-0, on Monday. The Knights clinched the Colonial Council championship with the win.

The loss dropped the Blackbirds’ record to 7-9-1 overall and 6-9 in the league.

"A quick game"

But on Friday, the Blackbirds looked like one of the top teams in the Colonial Council.
"We took advantage of situations," Czerwinski said. "We have a nice little roll going."

After Cobleskill scored a run in the top of the first inning, the Blackbirds scored four runs in the bottom half of the frame to answer.

Bryce Gray led off the inning with a single and moved to second when Jay Conde walked. After a flyout, R.J. Curreri reached base on an error by the Bulldogs’ third baseman.

With the bases loaded, Chris Massaroni was hit with a pitch and Gray scored from third.

Dan Healy then hit the ball to second base and a throwing error allowed Conde and Curreri to score and move Massaroni to third.

Justin Arico’s groundout drove in Massaroni for the fourth run of the inning.

The Blackbirds scored their fifth and final run in the second inning.

Tommy Pasquali led off the inning with a single. He later scored on Curreri’s RBI single.

From then on, it was about pitching and defense for the Blackbirds.

Berschwinger was solid as he struck out four Cobleskill batters. He gave up just six hits and stayed out of trouble by just walking three batters.
"Joe’s been our hard-luck pitcher," Czerwinski said. "He’s been the recipient of some of our bad play. This will be good for his confidence, especially for a 10th-grader."

The defense also helped him out. The Blackbirds committed just one error and avoided big trouble in the first inning with a third-basemen-to-second-to first double play.
"It was a quick game," Czerwinski said. "Joe was throwing strikes. It was a huge game for momentum going into the end of the season."

Pete Collings had an RBI single in the first inning for Cobleskill. His hit brought in Dunea Lockwood who hit a double. Chris Pietrowski drove in the other Bulldogs’ run with a single to score Adam Booker.
"We need to win our last two"

The Blackbirds started the season strong but it has been a roller-coaster ride ever since mid-April.
"From the beginning of the year, we’ve had a lot of injuries," Czerwinski said. "We haven’t had any consistency. Between the schedule and our health, we haven’t had a steady line-up. We’ve been unsure of who’s playing, why they are playing, and what to do."

The mid-season swoon might hurt the Blackbirds when it comes to sectional play. The Lansingburgh loss will hurt as well. Teams need to finish with a .500 record to qualify for the playoffs.
"We have two games left," Czerwinski said on Friday. "We are 7-8 overall with one tie. We need to win our last two. If we go one and one, we’ll be under .500. We’re trying to get another non-league game but it’s hard to find anyone that wants to schedule a game this late. But we want another game to balance out the schedule."

Voorheesville’s last scheduled game is on Thursday at home against Albany Academy.

In the meeting last week with Academy, Pasquali had two singles and drove in two runs for the Blackbirds. Conde pitched a complete game and gave up seven hits. The Birds did commit five errors in the contest. Conde struck out 10 Academy hitters.

The Blackbirds have their backs against the wall but will try to claw their way into the sectional playoffs.
"It’s not what we expected," Czerwinski said. "But we’ll deal with it."