Adirondack and Morrisville-Eaton baseball play Saturday with a bid to states on the line

Then there were two.

After dozens of Mohawk Valley-area teams earned spots in the Section III Playoffs, only two – Morrisville-Eaton and Adirondack – remain. The field shrunk in half, from four to two, Tuesday night after the Warriors beat second-seeded Oriskany, and the Wildcats upset top-seeded and undefeated Westmoreland.

Now, No. 4 seed Morrisville-Eaton – Class D Section III winners – and No. 11 seed Adirondack – Class C Section III victors – will play Saturday with a bid to states on the line.

First pitch for the Warriors commences with Deposit/Hancock at 1 p.m. from Union Endicott High School in Endicott, just west of Binghamton. The Wildcats, meanwhile, return to Onondaga Community College in Syracuse to host Lansing. First pitch is at 6 p.m.

Here are previews of both games:

Morrisville-Eaton vs Deposit/Hancock

So far this postseason, the Warriors defeated the fifth, first and second-seeded teams in the Class D bracket. This experience, coach Coby Merkle said after Tuesday’s win, helped prepare his team for this challenge.

“We got to stay focused,” he said. “We can win. We just have to stay focused and do what we need to do to play our game.”

It’ll be a massive challenge indeed for M-E, one it has yet to deal with this season. The Eagles, winners of Class D Section IV, enter Endicott undefeated.

In Maxpreps latest rankings, they rank third in Section IV and eighth in the state.

The Warriors specialty is pitching, especially from senior Nick Brady. They allowed just two runs each against Lyme and Oriskany.

However, they may meet their match in Deposit/Hancock. The Eagles haven’t acquiesced a run in the postseason and won their sectional championship 11-0 over Afton.

On offense, DH averages 11 runs a game. They scored double-digit runs in 10 of 16 games and went over 18 three times.

What Morrisville-Eaton lacks in resume compared to Deposit/Hancock, it makes up for in confidence, Brady said.

“We’re at the top right now,” he said. “The three games we’ve lost this season were because of mental errors. We’re on a nine-game winning streak and have been hitting the ball solid besides today.”

The Warriors hope to rebound at the plate after nabbing just three hits versus Oriskany.

Brady, who pitched a complete game and drove in the go-ahead run Tuesday, said he expects to get the start.

Adirondack vs Lansing

It may not get any tougher on paper for Adirondack after defeating seemingly unbeatable Westmoreland on Tuesday, but the Lansing Bobcats still forecast a tough matchup for the ‘Cats.

Lansing, a No. 2 seed in the Section IV Class C tournament, won the title after overpowering top-seed Elmira Notre Dame 7-4 Saturday. This happened after the Bobcats came within a strike of claiming the Section IV Championship last season before falling to Trumansburg.

One aspect that worked in Adirondack’s favor against Westmoreland: it was its third game against the Bulldogs. Lansing is a team it knows nothing about. However, junior Brett Sanford recognizes the team understands how to defeat tough, unfamiliar, competition.

“We’ve probably had one of the toughest ways through sectionals and beating all those tough teams like Cooperstown and Pulaski, it was good,” he said. “We knew we were rolling, and teams had to come after us, but they had all the pressure since they’re the higher seed.”

The word surprising often gets thrown around in sports, but the Wildcats’ run has truly been bewildering.

They finished the regular season with an 8-11 record, with six of those wins over Canastota, Mt. Markham and Sherburne-Earlville, three of the worst teams in the Center State Conference.

However, coach Phil Poulio said the team treated sectionals as a new season.

“When we were 8-11, the joke was ‘let’s get back to .500’ and now today, it was ‘let’s get over .500.’” he said. “Teams that win games in sectionals are dangerous. Everyone is good at this point.”

The squad has still benefited from dominant performances from players like Colin White, who held the commanding Westmoreland offense to one run.

With White leading the way, Poulio said the sky’s the limit.

“He loves football, and he didn’t start pitching until this year, and I think he realized, when I pitch, we win games,” he said. “Now, he wants the ball, and he never wants to come out.”

Before Saturday, Poulio said the group must improve on keeping runners on base and making its small ball less predictable.

Junior Zach Sperger leads Lansing on the mound. In their championship win, he started the game and ended 2-2 with an RBI for the Bobcats.

What could be next?

If either team wins, it’ll trek south to Binghamton for the state tournament, which begins Friday, June 10.

Noah Ram is a sports reporter for the Observer-Dispatch. Email Noah Ram at nram@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Observer-Dispatch: Adirodack and Morrisville-Eaton could win spots in states this weekend