SECTION 4 BASEBALL: DEMEMBER'S ARM, BAT HELPS LEAD ELMIRA PAST CORNING AS THEY CLAIM SECTIONAL TITLE (24 PHOTOS) (May 28, 2026)

BY BRIAN FEES
Southern Tier Sports Report
CORNING — The Elmira Express put the ball in Logan DeMember’s hands to try and bring home a sectional title, and the senior delivered in a big way.

DeMember threw a one-hitter, and also delivered a three-run double to help the Express top Corning 12-2 in five innings to win the best of three series in two games, both of them by mercy rule. 

“It feels amazing, obviously, at the beginning of the season we knew we’d have to work hard,” DeMember said. “This (Corning) is a young team, they are talented, they have some good players and it just feels amazing to do it because we worked so hard for it.

“I was anxious. Ideally I was hoping they would let me go and do the whole game and they did and I was really happy because pitching you get to be in on every single play, so that’s why I love pitching.”

DeMember tossed a one-hitter, allowing a pair of unearned runs. He struck out 11. At the plate he was 2-for-3 with the double, three RBI and two runs scored as the Express won their 13th straight game. 

“This has been the goal since the beginning, the boys have been working hard since January,” Elmira coach Justin Fuchs said. “This has been the goal since day one. We are going to hopefully continue this on next week. It’s really nice to just see the boys peform the way they have, especially the second half of the season when they turned it on. A lot of the seniors who have been involved with this program forever have stepped up and performed and come through in huge places. Logan DeMember threw a great game today. We had a couple guys who hit the ball well, they did exactly what they were supposed to do today.”

It was a 1-0 game in the second inning when DeMember came to the plate with two outs and the bases loaded. 

“When I went up to the plate I knew with two outs, bases loaded I had to do something. I knew if he gave me a pitch I wasn’t going to miss it and unfortunately he missed his spot,” DeMember said. 

The 13-game win streak has included five straight games with seven or more runs. They have wins over AA section finalists Horseheads and Vestal in the stretch and have beaten Corning five times in the stretch. 

“I feel great, it feels good to win,” DeMember said. “I love winning so much. Ever since Myrtle we have been hot and I really think we can play with everybody.”

For Fuchs the team has been playing great all the way around during the win streak.

“We had that game against Ithaca we lost that we really should have won,” Fuchs said. “We just came out really flat that day. After that we got a break the next game and man we haven’t looked back since. We have had some incredible clutch hitting, some great pitching along the way, some shutouts and some really absolutely shut down pitching. The clutch hitting has come from a lot of different places. Different games, different guys hit, we have just had a lot of guys who have exceeded their expectations this year to help us get to this point.”

It was back-to-back strong starts by Aedan Palmer and DeMember in the two sectional wins for the Express. Both are Division I commits with Palmer going to LeMoyne and DeMember to Albany. 

“We know we have two guys we can roll out there anytime and a third who is just a hair, probably a hair less intimidating but probably just as effective,” Fuchs said. “So we know we are fortunate this year to have some really good pitching. The guys do the job and they know the situation they were walking into. They have done everything they needed to do to walk out of here with that plaque.”

Aiden Ranck was 3-for-4 with a double, two RBI and two runs scored. Jackson Cavalier had two hits, with an RBI and a run scored and Aedan Palmer had a hit, an RBI and two runs scored.

Frankie D’Angelo scored two runs and Noah Cain and Quinn Hanrahan scored runs. 

Zach Miller had the Corning hit, scoring a run. Noah Hunter scored a run in the game. Carter West struck out three in 1 2/3 innings and Andrew Welch went 3 1/3 innings, striking out six. 

A year ago the Express lost in regionals and they are excited to head back there this year.

“It’s been on my mind since the last pitch of last game,” DeMember said. “That’s what we play for. This is sectionals, but we want to do something really special this year.”

Elmira plays on Tuesday in the subregional game at a location and time to be determined. 
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PHOTO GALLERY FROM THE GAME: 

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