By Joey Manganiello
SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Back on June 7, the Junior Chiefs were 1-2 and had yet to play a home game due to a pair of rainouts, stranding the team on a four-game road trip to open the season.
As of June 18, however, the Junior Chiefs have won four consecutive games, pushing themselves to first place in the East Division behind the league’s best offense.
Over the winning streak, the Junior Chiefs have averaged 12.8 runs per game, including 17 runs against their cross-town rivals, the Syracuse Salt Cats, on June 15. The Junior Chiefs have failed to score less than 12 runs the last three games, beating Utica, Syracuse and Adirondack by a combined score of 44-19.
At the top of the league’s best offense is second baseman Frank Salerno, who has the fourth highest batting average in the NYCBL at .464 and has an on-base-percentage of .615, the second-highest in the NYCBL. Salerno has batted lead-off and started at second base in every game for the Junior Chiefs.
The Junior Chiefs also have three other players batting over .400, including their starting catcher Corey Caswell, who is batting .563 and leading the league. Alex Sanchez is batting .444 and Dave Wolak is batting .429, and they are two of only five players in the league batting at least .400 with 10 or more RBIs.
Wolak, the team’s number four hitter in every game this season, is second in the NYCBL in RBI (12) and leads the NYCBL in runs scored (13). In the win against the Salt Cats, Wolak went 3 for 6 with two runs scored and two RBIs. In that game, the Junior Chiefs scored a run in six of eight offensive frames.
“We played well early on, but lost a couple heart breakers,” said Ryan Sonberg, the team’s starting first baseman the last four games. “Now that we’re still playing well, hopefully we can win some more.”
Sonberg was inserted as the everyday first baseman following a season-ending injury to 1B/P Kyle Stoudt, who figured to be a great player for the Junior Chiefs this season. Sonberg has not disappointed in his place, batting .318 on the season while driving in five runs and scoring four runs in his four starts. In the win against Adirondack, Sonberg hit his first home run of the season and batted 3 for 4.
“I stayed with the same approach (against Adirondack) and hoped that things would start falling,” Sonberg said following the team’s 15-8 victory against Adirondack. “I was still squaring up on the ball, so it felt really good.”
The Junior Chiefs team batting totals are just as staggering. They are averaging 10.9 runs per game for the season, which is the best in the league. The Junior Chiefs are also leading the NYCBL in batting average (.344) and on-base-percentage (.435).
While the Junior Chiefs have certainly been the most formidable offense in the league, what has put the team over the top has been an affective pitching staff. They have walked the third-lowest amount of batters while giving up the second-lowest amount of runs. In fact, Junior Chief pitchers have only given up 4.3 earned-runs per game, less than half of the average number of runs the team scores offensively.
“This is going to be the start of something good right here,” said starting pitcher Keenan Stare. “We’re going to get on a roll.”
Stare is 1-1 on the season with 12 strike-outs against three walks. Against the Brewers on June 14, Stare pitched seven complete innings and gave up just two earned runs, earning his first win of the season. Stare credits the early offense for his performance against Utica.
“Getting on top early always helps. That allowed me to make them swing at the pitches I wanted them to instead of the pitches they wanted to,” Stare said.
At a time where the offense could not be playing any better, and while the Junior Chief franchise has won four straight games for the first time in decades, the team is welcoming in the latest piece to their team: third baseman Zach Lauricella.
Lauricella just completed his freshman season at St. Johns University, where he started the majority of the team’s games, drove in 30 RBI and helped push the team to the Super Regional level of the Division 1 NCAA tournament. Lauricella figures to be one of the most talented bats in the NYCBL this summer, which can only add to the league’s best offense.
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