Oriskany returning to state baseball semifinals following 14-4 victory

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CANTON — The weather cleared in Northern New York Monday and the Oriskany Skyhawks won an unbeaten showdown with Heuvelton to earn the last of 24 semifinal spots in the New York State Public High School Athletic Association’s state baseball playoffs for 2026.

The Skyhawks, defending state Class D champions and now winners of 38 games in a row, ran their season’s record to 21-0 with a 14-4 victory over Section X champion Heuvelton which ends the year with a 20-1 mark.

The Heuvelton loss leaves three unbeatens in New York high school baseball. Oriskany joins Section IX Cornwall (23-0) and Section VIII Plainedge (27-0) which had advanced with regional wins in classes AA and A over the weekend. D was the last of the six classes with multiple unbeartens.

The softball semifinals and finals will also be played in Binghamton this coming weekend and include two unbeatens, Section III Cincinnatus (17-0) and Section IV Windham-Ashland-Jewett (20-0), both in Class D.

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The Skyhawks and Heuvelton’s Bulldogs had been scheduled to play Sunday but the game was postponed until Monday afternoon.

Oriskany took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning at St. Lawrence Monday, then scored five runs in the second and eventually led 8-0 behind junior right-hander Dean Koenig who struck out nine batters, walked two, and allowed one earned run on three hits through six innings. Trey Smith pitched the seventh after the Skyhawks scored six runs in the top of the final inning.

Dawson Foss and Jack Mason each had two of Oriskany’s 12 hits. Eddie Wright singled, walked and scored three runs, Foss scored two runs and drove in two, Tyler Tamburino, Kameron Zabek, Mason and Koenig each had two runs batted in, and Jayden Stapleton scored two runs.

The Skyhawks scored 10 runs or more for the 14th time this spring and for the fifth time in their last six games.

Oriskany plays Section V Fillmore (17-2) at 10 a.m. Friday in the first semifinal at Union-Endicott High School. Section II Duanesburg (15-4) meets Section XI Bridgehampton (6-10) in the second game, the other Class D semifinal.Oriskany beat Fillmore 5-2 in last year’s semifinals.

Friday’s winners square off in Saturday’s 1 p.m. championship game at Binghamton University. Oriskany defeated Section II North Warren 9-2 in last spring’s championship game at Mirabito Stadium. The Skyhawks were also finalists in 2024 when they were beaten by Arkport/Canaseraga from Section V in the championship game on the university field.

Fillmore is the only other semifinalist this year who has played in either of the last two Final Fours with Oriskany. Oriskany was also a semifinalist in 2015.

The Skyhawks join Class AAA Liverpool, Class AA West Genesee, and Class B Utica-Notre Dame to give Section III four teams in the baseball semifinals. The section has Cincinnatus and Class AA Fayetteville-Manlius competing in softball.