STAC BASEBALL: TOUGH INNING COSTLY IN WAVERLY LOSS TO VESTAL (May 16, 2026)

By TIM TAYLOR
Valley Sports Report
BINGHAMTON — One tough inning proved to be costly for the Waverly baseball team as the Wolverines dropped a 6-5 heartbreaker to defending champion Vestal in the STAC semifinals at Mirabito Stadium here Saturday.

The Golden Bears scored five of their runs, only two of them earned, in the top of the second inning to build a 6-2 advantage.

“And then we shut them out the rest of the way,” coach Kyle McDuffee said. “We shut down a good team for five innings. That's really good by my pitching.

“A good ball team, as we expect coming to the STAC championship tournament. We expect to see it.”

A pair of singles by Parker Terrell and Spencer Griffiths started the inning, but with two away, two hit batters and an error off the bat of Josh Kweller turned a 2-1 deficit into a 4-2 lead. A single by Henry Lay plated two more runs to put Vestal ahead, 6-2.

Waverly put Sam Cheresnowsky on with a single and Hogan Shaw followed with a walk in the bottom of the inning, but the Wolverines failed to produce a run.

Ronin Ault would double to start the home half of the third and would score on Axel Murray’s two-out single to make it 6-3.

Neither team could push a run across until Waverly’s two-out rally in the bottom of the sixth made it a one-run contest. Hogan Shaw drew a base on balls, Jack Pipher singled to center and the duo moved up a base on a double steal. Hogan Shaw would go home on a balk and Pipher would move to third, then score on an Ault single to right to close the gap to 6-5.

The Bears loaded the bases on an error and two singles in their final at-bats, but the Wolverines escaped without damage on a pair of fielder’s choices to second baseman Daltton Davis.

Terrell retired the side in the bottom of the frame to preserve the win.

“This is a real good game for us going into sectionals,” McDuffee said. “Sectionals are two days away, starting Monday, and we got to see some really good pitching to prep us for it, so my team, I thought, did well.

“They kept fighting back, kept scrapping and, maybe, one timely hit. We did leave some runners on with less than two outs so we’ve got to improve a little bit there, but this team's locked in. We're ready to go. We're ready to go into sectionals.

“Two mistakes and that's the lesson for these guys too. One or two mistakes in a sectional game, it's hard to come back from, right? That's the key that we have to just play solid baseball from here on out. And we have. We've done it all year.”

Vestal outhit the Wolverines, 11-7, with Terrell going 3-for-4 with three RBI, and Lay getting two hits and three RBI. Griffiths and Isaac Rittenburg added two hits apiece.

Ault led the Waverly effort with a 3-for-4 effort, scoring twice and driving in a run. Hogan Shaw walked three times and scored twice; Pipher added a hit, run and RBI; Murray chipped in with a hit and RBI; and Ben Shaw and Cheresnowsky tacked on one hit each.

Vestal would fall to Oneonta in the championship game, 12-9.

Waverly (17-2) has drawn the top seed for the Section IV Class A tournament and will host Chenango Valley in a best-of-three series beginning Monday.

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PHOTOS BY TIM TAYLOR.

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