Proctor, Whitesboro baseball teams to play regional doubleheader Monday

Section III baseball champions Thomas R. Proctor High School and Whitesboro will be together again in a New York State Public High School Athletic Association regional doubleheader next Monday, June 9, at Shuttleworth Park in Amsterdam.

Whitesboro (20-5) plays a Class A regional semifinal at 4 p.m. and Proctor

(14-12) plays a Class AA regional championship game at 7 p.m. Both the Warriors and the Raiders will be playing the Section II champion from the Capital District area.

Section II semifinals are scheduled for today, June 4. In Class A, Ichabod Crane (18-7) plays Bishop Maginn (8-14) and Mohonasen (14-5) plays Scotia (15-9). In Class AA, Troy La Salle, 24-0 and ranked No. 1 in the state, plays Bethlehem (19-6) and Niskayuna (18-7) plays Columbia (17-9).

Whitesboro and Proctor won't know who they will play until Saturday night's Section II championship doubleheader at Joe Bruno Stadium.

A Whitesboro win Monday would send the Warriors to a Class A regional final Tuesday against a Section VII or Section X team at Alliance Bank Stadium in Syracuse. A Proctor win Monday would send the defending Class AA state champion Raiders back to the state Final Four.

The one-day, state championship Final Four tournament will again be held in the Binghamton area on Saturday, June 14. The Class A tournament will be played at NYSEG Stadium in Binghamton and the Class AA tournament will be played at Union-Endicott High School's Sylvester Field.

In Tuesday night's Section III championship doubleheader at Rome's Larry DeLutis Field, both Whitesboro and Proctor won in dramatic fashion, and both knocked off top-seeded teams.

In the Class A opener, top-seeded Mexico and Tigers ace James Williamson were on cruise control through six innings. Williamson had not allowed a Whitesboro hit and had thrown only 55 pitches, but after putting leadoff hitter George Hajjar in an 0-2 hole, he plunked him with a 1-2 pitch and then gave up a long run-scoring double to Al Ferenti. Matt Wilk tied it with a run-scoring single, and with two outs, No. 8 hitter Chris Vomer drove in the game-winner with a single to right field.

Senior pitcher T.J. Abounader, now 7-0, went the distance for Whitesboro, helping the Warriors win their first Section III title since 1974.

In the Class AA nightcap at DeLutis Field, Proctor also got a complete-game effort from its senior pitcher, Joe Perrotta. The right-hander allowed three unearned runs on four hits and struck out 10, but the Raiders had to erase 1-0, 2-1, and 3-2 deficits before Jacob Henry scored the sixth-inning game-winner on a two-out wild pitch. Leadoff man Devin Warmack had two hits, two stolen bases, and an RBI for the Raiders, who earlier in the Class AA tournament had eliminated two state-ranked teams, Rome Free Academy and Liverpool.