EAST GREENBUSH — There are those among the Columbia athletic community that feel contributions made by some members of the school’s varsity baseball team on Friday evening are every bit as important as what the Blue Devils will contribute on Saturday evening.
Columbia’s senior prom was held Friday night at the Desmond. The Blue Devils (17-6) then will be on a bus Saturday morning traveling to Onondaga Community College to take on Section III champion Jamesville-DeWitt (14-7) in Class A state quarterfinal action. Columbia is seeking to secure the program’s first state title since its 2004 squad won it all in Class A.
Jacob Skarlis is one of the seniors who is participating in both big events. He departed the team’s early afternoon practice Friday to prepare for his senior prom and will take the mound Saturday against the Red Rams.
“I am really excited. You don’t get this opportunity every day to go to battle with your boys in a state playoff game,” said Skarlis, who is 5-2 with 2.18 earned-run average and 41 strikeouts over 35 innings. “We are looking to take advantage of this chance and play as hard as we can.”
“Going into this game, I feel this is the most we have been prepared. We’re hitting on all cylinders right now,” Columbia coach Chris Dedrick said. “We’re going into this with a mindset that (Saturday) is a business trip and we have work to do. A win is definitely attainable and we’re confident. If we can play like Columbia and field a clean game and ‘Skar’ has his normal outing, we have a real good chance at it.”
The baseball team joined the boys’ and girls’ soccer teams this scholastic year as being sectional champions in Class A. The program had previously competed in Class AA. The 2022 baseball team lost to Shaker in the AA semifinals. This season’s squad put together a quality campaign. One of the team’s losses during the regular season came against Albany Academy. The two teams…
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