BINGHAMTON — The Oriskany Skyhawks are one win away from returning to New York’s Class D baseball championship game and they go for that win Friday, June 13, at SUNY-Binghamton, the site of last year’s title game.
Oriskany (17-1), champion of Section III for the third year in a row and the winner of 16 consecutive games, is ranked first in the state by the New York State Sportswriters Association, as it has been throughout the season, and takes the field at 7 p.m. against Section V Fillmore (17-9). That game follows the other Class D semifinal between North Warren (14-5-1) of Section II and Smithtown Christian (16-2) from Long Island and Section XI.
“It feels good,” Oriskany coach Eric Enos said after the Section III championship game at Onondaga Community College last week, “but it’s kind of funny. Most teams storm the field a bit, but we have higher intentions.”
Times Telegram and Observer-Dispatch sportswriter Jon Rathbun will be at today’s game and tweeting live updates.
HS Baseball
Oriskany plays for a return to New York’s Class D championship game against Fillmore Friday at 7 p.m. in Binghamton.
Forecast projects 73 degrees for first pitch with a 50 percent chance of showers after 8 p.m. at SUNY-Binghamton.
— jon rathbun (@LFTimes_sports) June 13, 2025
Section V Arkport/Canaseraga defeated Oriskany 4-0 in last year’s final. Oriskany, previously a finalist in 2012 and 1993, had beaten Deposit/Hancock from Section IV in its semifinal; Deposit/Hancock, the 2022 champion, is back in the semifinals this year in Class C.
Section IX Chapel Field has the other post-COVID Class D championship. Oriskany is potentially the first Section III champion since Fabius-Pompey in 2000, and Center State Conference rival Poland before that in 1990. West Canada Valley, another CSC school, had been the last Section III finalist before Oriskany when it was beaten by Fort Plain from just across the Section II border in 2016.
Friday’s winners meet in Saturday’s 4 p.m. championship game at Mirabito Stadium, home of Binghamton’s Double-A Rumble Ponies.
Oriskany needed a run in the sixth inning and five more in an extra eighth to get by Section IV champion Notre Dame of Elmira in last weekend’s regional playoff which was also played in Binghamton. The Skyhawks trailed 3-0 in an eventual 8-3 victory at Conlon Field, and also allowed opponents to score first in sectional semifinal and championship victories, a 12-3 win over Poland and 6-3 win over McGraw. Despite those early deficits, Oriskany has won each f its last 13 games by three runs or more.
Senior Chase Koenig and junior Eddie Wright have been Oriskany’s top pitchers through their three-year sectional title run, with sophomore Dean Koenig stepping in for the departed Anthony Kernan this spring.
Senior catcher Nick Hays (.429) joins Wright (.418) and Dean Koenig (.431) to give the team a trio of .400 hitters, and the leadoff hitter leads the team with24 stolen bases and 30 runs scored. Koenig has scored 25 runs and driven in 21, while Wright has 23 runs scored and 22 runs batted in.