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LAKEWOOD -- The Southwestern Gladiators 11U travel baseball team defeated Cayuga 8-5 in the WNY Premier League semifinals.
The Gladiators finished the regular season in second place out of 11 teams in the league. The top four seeds in the league compete for the league title.
The Gladiators, being the No. 2 seed, defeated No. 3 Cayuga. The Gladiators scored all their runs in two innings, scoring six in the first and tacking on two more in the third.
The Gladiators' first inning was led by Gage Olmsted and Ethan Smrekar walks before Austin Bushey hit an RBI single to score Olmsted. Ryan Burnett then drew a walk before Nolan Truver hit a ball in play for an RBI, driving in Smrekar to make it 2-0. Bushey and Burnett then scored on passed balls.
Alexander Olson hit a single to right field and stole second base before Tage Mazzurco hit an RBI double to left field bringing in Olson. Jeramie Rodriguez then made it 6-0 by hitting an RBI single to left field that brought in Mazzurco.
Cayuga would score one run in the second inning, but the Gladiators would add to their lead in the third inning. Burnett and Truver hit singles before Bennett Larson picked up an RBI to score Burnett. Truver stole home to make the score 8-1.
Cayuga came back to score three runs in the fourth inning and one run in the seventh inning to make the final score 8-5.
The Gladiators worked four pitchers in the contest: Smrekar, Evan Lescynski, Bushey and Remington Smith, who combined to only allow five hits, while the Gladiators had seven hits.
In the other semifinal, No. 4 Mel Ott (Amherst) defeated No. 1 Fredonia.
The Gladiators will host Mel Ott in the championship game on Saturday at 2 p.m. at Lagrega Field in Lakewood.