CNY spotlight athlete of the week: Cazenovia pitcher Jack Byrnes (video)

Syracuse, N.Y. -- This spring has demanded the balance of two important swings for Cazenovia’s Jack Byrnes.

The junior is one of the best golfers in Section III, a qualifier for the state tournament later this month. That sport requires constant tinkering as soon as the snow clears.

He is also a tough out for the Lakers baseball team, with a .416 batting average and 14 RBI for Cazenovia’s lineup.

The challenge is the swings of the two sports are not only incredibly tough to master, but the mechanics of one also tends to mess up those of the other. So a clear mental and physical firewall must be established between Byrnes’ weekday practices with the baseball team and his golf work on the weekends.

“I’ve just got to make sure when I’m not practicing golf, I just need to make sure I have my baseball swing as good as it can be for my team,” he said. ”I still have to make sure that my baseball swing is the best it can be because baseball is a priority right now over golf.”

And the most encouraging news for the Lakers baseball team is that while Byrnes’ work in the batters’ box is an important ingredient in its success, an even more impactful part of his talent is immune to golf’s tweaking demands.

That right arm. No matter how much under-the-hood tinkering Byrnes does on his golf game, the right arm stands ready for a smooth transition to answer the call and shut down opposing lineups.

Byrnes has allowed just four earned runs in 34 1/3 innings this season. Last week he blanked defending sectional champion Skaneateles, earning him Syracuse.com’s spotlight athlete of the week honor.

“I’m surprised right now that’s the case. We have a much harder schedule this year than we did last year,” Byrnes said of his stinginess. “But our defense has definitely showed out and limited errors.”

One of the biggest beneficiaries of Byrnes’ skill, Lakers manager Tim Mascari, knows first-hand about Byrnes’ efforts to improve his game. Mascari teaches summer school in the district, and on nice days his phone pings with texts from Byrnes.

The player lobbies Mascari to meet him for a round of catch, or at the very least, unlock the team’s equipment shed so that he can work out with someone else.

“He’ll text me and say ‘Hey, can we go to the field and play long toss together?’ He’s always going the extra mile to just continue to work at it and get better,” Mascari said. “Sometimes to the point where my wife is like, ‘Why are you always going to do this when you could come hang out with us a little bit?’ She knows that he loves the sport and that I love coaching the sport. It’s kind of a running joke. He’s a kid that’s really kind of poured his heart and soul into the sport of baseball. He’s always working at it.”

Brynes said his fastball has been timed in the low 80s, but that’s a bit deceptive. He approaches his craft with a paintbrush, not a jackhammer. His focus is on honing his off-speed stuff to create different sorts of puzzles for hitters to solve.

“I would say I have a pretty good off-speed pitch. A good curveball. I would say that definitely messes with batters,” he said. “It’s kind of like an art, being able to spin the ball the way that I want to. Being able to perfect that is very exciting for me. I definitely like the cat and mouse with the pitcher and the hitter, just being able to try to find what he struggles with and show that weakness and end up striking him out or something.”

With the baseball sectionals approaching, Brynes will continue to focus on those types of mind games. Golf is fun and at times important, but baseball will fill out the prime time slots in his schedule until there’s none left to be played.

“There are times where I definitely miss playing golf. But right now I’m all baseball,” he said. “I strive to win, just like my coach. I do my best to try to make every player on our team as best as they can when we get to sectionals because that’s when you need to play your best baseball.”

Contact Lindsay Kramer anytime: Email | Twitter

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