OBSERVER Photo by Ashleigh Brown Dunkirk’s Greg Orcutt delivers to the plate during Friday’s nonleague game against Eden at Al Stuhlmiller Field.

DUNKIRK — The last win of the year for the Dunkirk Marauders in 2024 featured a stellar performance on the mound from Greg Orcutt to pitch his team into the Section VI championship game.

The first win for Dunkirk in 2025 felt like deja vu.

Tasked with stepping into the spotlight as Dunkirk’s ace this season, Orcutt looked as dominant as ever Friday in the season opener. Orcutt was nearly unhittable on the mound and Dunkirk’s offense poured it on late to earn a 10-0 mercy rule victory over the visiting Eden Raiders in a nonleague game at Al Stuhlmiller Field.

“I think it started last year with his performance against Depew,” Dunkirk head coach Frank Jagoda said. “He came in (this year) looking to be the leader of the staff. … We’re pretty happy with what we’ve got.”

Orcutt said after the performance a year ago that it felt good to silence the Depew fans who were berating him throughout the game. He muzzled the Eden offense in similar fashion on Friday.

“It’s a mindset. If you feel like you can go out there and dominate, you will,” Orcutt said. “You just can’t be scared of the person in the box.”

Just how dominant was Orcutt on Friday? It took until the fourth inning for Eden (0-2) to even put a ball in play.

Even when it finally was put in play, the exit velocity off the only two balls in play might not have even surpassed Orcutt’s fastball, which looked as good as it ever has, even in 44 degrees for an April 4 opener.

A one-out blooper to shallow right field was Eden’s lone hit off Orcutt, and the inning ended on a slow groundball to second base.

At that point, the game was still very respectable, though it never felt like the result was in question. Orcutt was in such control that it just felt like a matter of time until it was broken open.

“He held us in there until our bats could make adjustments to what they were doing on the mound,” Jagoda said. “We started getting some timely hits, and it was a good day.”

That’s exactly what happened in the fourth inning, as the Marauders (1-0) poured on six runs to turn a 3-0 ballgame into a 9-0 advantage.

Two runs came in on wild pitches, then Josh Lemanski drove in the sixth Dunkirk run of the evening with his third hit of the game. A seventh run came in on an error. Then, Anthony Cosme blasted an RBI double to the right-center field gap for an 8-0 Dunkirk lead. Gabe Valentine drove in the ninth run of the game with a line drive off a diving shortstop. The Marauders left the bases loaded to end the inning.

From there, Orcutt was lifted with a sizable lead after four dominant innings. He threw 72 pitches, allowed just one hit, walked two batters, and hit one batter. He struck out 11 of the 16 total batters he faced.

“People just think I’m a basketball player,” Orcutt joked, coming off his first-team all-star selection as the school’s leading scorer on the hardwood. “It feels like a message that we’re ready, I’m ready, and we can make big things happen.”

Orcutt mixed his slider in with his fastball, which he was very comfortable with Friday. He said his fastball was “blowing by” Eden’s batters, and the result was a dominant showing from Dunkirk’s go-to starter.

“Even the guys he put on, he wasn’t wild. He was around the plate the whole time,” Jagoda said. “They were pretty marginal pitches that could’ve gone either way.”

Lemanski threw the fifth inning for Dunkirk, and managed to put up a zero to pair nicely with his 3-for-3 day at the plate, which included an RBI, a walk and four runs scored. The Marauders loaded the bases with nobody out in the bottom of the fifth inning before Anthony Piede drove in the 10th run of the game with a groundball on the infield that brought Lemanski home.

“We hit the ball hard all day. The kids are excited. We worked hard to get to this point,” Jagoda said.

Moving forward, Dunkirk has three games next week, weather permitting. The Marauders host Brocton on Monday, then Frewsburg visits Tuesday, with a rivalry showdown with Fredonia looming Thursday in Dunkirk.

“We’re looking forward to next week, playing some good baseball,” Jagoda said. “It’s always good to get the first win of the season. Hopefully, we have many more.”