No hitters highlighted Kendall’s 1994 G-R Division II baseball championship season

Contributed Photo – David Hilner hurled a pair of no hitters during Kendall’s 1994 Genesee Region League Division II title season

A pair of no hitters highlighted Kendall’s 1994 Genesee Region League Division II baseball championship campaign.

Senior David Hilner hurled both shutouts first blanking Elba 10-0 with 15 strikeouts early in the season and later nipping Pavilion 2-1 with 13 K’s.

In the narrow win over Pavilion, the Eagles scored what proved to be the game winning run in the fourth inning on an RBI single by Joe Gursslin. A hit batter and a double by Bill Pearce set up the tally. Hilner retired the last 14 batters he faced, 10 via the strikeout route.

Kendall also had a key late season 9-8 10 inning win over Lyndonville before locking up the G-R Division II title with a doubleheader sweep of Notre Dame by scores of 7-3 and 9-4 in the league finale.

Against Lyndonville, Kendall pulled out the win by rallying for three runs in the bottom of the 10th inning on an RBI double by Jason Cole and run producing singles by Tony Trimm and Brett Robinson.  Lyndonville had scored twice in the top of the 0th on an error, three walks and a wild pitch for an 8-6 lead.

Earlier in the game, the Eagles had erased a  4-2 deficit by scoring four times with two out in the sixth inning on a two-run single by D’Agostino and RBI singles by Jim Marion and Keith Akers. However, Lyndonville sent the contest into extra innings by scoring twice in the seventh to knot the contest at 6-6.

In the first game against Notre Dame a four-run fourth inning on an RBI triple by Trimm and run producing singles by Hilner, Phil DAgostino and Gursslin keyed the win. A double by winning pitcher Cole ignited the uprising.

In the second contest, Kendall took the lead for good by scoring four times in the third inning on a two run single by D’Agostino and RBI doubles by Cole and Gursslin to erase a 2-1 deficit.

The Eagles went 10-0 in the division and 12-3 overall in G-R competition.

Cole, Hilner and Trimm all earned G-R first team All-Star honors.

Keeping the momentum, Kendall then scored three straight sectional wins 7-1 over Letchworth, 4-2 over Warsaw and 10-6 over Geneseo before bowing to East Rochester 11-2 in the Class C championship game.

The title campaign ignited a strong seven year run of diamond success for Kendall which included three more sectional final appearances (1996, 1999 and 2000). The Eagles captured their first sectional title in 1999 and went on to win the Far West Regional and gain a berth in the state semifinals.