NYSPHSAA BASEBALL: HORSEHEADS SET TO FACE WEST GENESEE IN STATE SEMIS (June 11, 2026)

Southern Tier Sports Report
The Horseheads Blue Raiders are one win away from making history at the New York State Public High School Baseball Championships. 

The Blue Raiders are two wins away from repeating as sectional champs. They’d be the first team in Section 4 history to repeat. 

Horseheads is facing a team that has some similarities to themselves in West Genesee. Horseheads is 19-7 not he year and West Genesee is 20-4.

The two teams meet at 4 p.m. Friday at Binghamton’s Mirabito Stadium. The other semifinal is Section 9’s Cornwall against Section 8’s Kennedy. 

Horseheads pitching has been dominant throughout the postseason. The Blue Raiders have thrown three straight shutouts and haven’t allowed a run in the past 22 innings. 

After Mason Markle was pulled in the first inning of Game 2 against Vestal, he came back in Game 3 and started this dominant run.

Markle threw a shutout in Game 3 against Vestal and then he had a shutout of Hamburg in the state quarterfinal. Cooper Ball threw the game in between, hurling a one-hit shutout in a win over Garden City. 

Ball, a junior, who is committed to Binghamton, has a .70 ERA with 104 strikeouts in 66 innings this year. He also is hitting over .400 on the year. Make also has a sub-1.00 ERA on the year. 

West Genesee has nearly matched Horseheads in the postseason. They threw three straight shutouts in the Section 3 tournament, before a 2-1 win over Bethlehem in the regional final. 

Colin Crinnin leads West Genesee in innings pitched this year at 61 1/3. He has a 1.14 ERA and 83 strikeouts. He is 8-0 on the year. Colin Straub is 7-1 in 42 1/3 innings. He has a .99 ERA and 66 strikeouts. Junior Benjamin Jessen is -30 in 26 innings, with just one run allowed on the year, with 27 strikeouts. Jessen also leads the team with 3 home runs and is hitting .340 with 22 RBI. Brayden Fougnier is hitting .429 with 16 RBI. 

The two teams have one common opponent this year in Ithaca. Horseheads beat Ithaca 10-1, 9-0 and 5-0, while West Genesee beat the Little Red 5-0. 
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STSR FILE PHOTO. 

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