By Zach Gewelb
SYRACUSE, NY — The Syracuse Jr. Chiefs rode the hot bats of Alex Caruso (St. John’s) and Stanley Susaña (St. Thomas Aquinas) en route to an opening day sweep of the Sherril Silversmiths in New York Collegiate Baseball League action at Alliance Bank Stadium. After winning game one 7-0, Syracuse’s offense stayed hot in a 6-5 win in the nightcap of the day-night doubleheader.
Caruso got on base nine times in nine at-bats today and Susaña combined to go 4-8 with three doubles and three RBI.
“It wasn’t just me, it was a bunch of guys,” Caruso said. “Nick and Stanley had some big hits for us too, so it was a team effort today.”
The Jr. Chiefs offense supported starting pitcher Billy Kosachook (Urbana) (W, 5 1/3 IP, 7 H, 5 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 0 K) giving him a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Nicholas Sinay (U of Buffalo) (2-4, 1 R) got things going for the Chiefs with a lead off walk and used his speed to advance to second base.
After the steal, number two hitter Caruso drew a walk and gave way to Susaña. The third baseman came through for the Jr. Chiefs, as Susaña smacked a two-run double to right-center field.
“I just tried to get deep in the count and find a good pitch to hit,” Susaña said. “I was really just trying to see the ball well.”
The Silversmiths cut the lead to one in the top of the second inning when center fielder Blaze Tom (Fort Scott CC) drilled a triple into deep right field. Tom was able to score, however, after a bad throw from Sinay in right field.
The score remained 2-1 until the bottom of the fourth, when the combination of Caruso and Susaña increased the Jr. Chiefs lead. After Sherrill starter Josh Griffith (Fort Scott CC) (L, 4 1/3 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 3 BB, 3 K) walked Noel Garcia (Northwood) and Gary Jones (Delaware) , Norberto Diaz (Bates) drove in a run with a sacrifice groundout.
Griffith retired Sinay, and Caruso came up to the plate looking to reach base for the eighth consecutive time. He came through with an RBI single that plated Jones and gave the Jr. Chiefs a 5-1 lead.
“I saw the ball well in batting practice this morning and I was confident,” Caruso said.
Susaña followed with another RBI double to right field to extend the Jr. Chiefs lead to 6-1.
“It (our offense) was amazing today,” Susaña said. We had some timely hitting and everyone just clicked.”
The Silversmiths cut the lead in the fifth inning when Max Nagelsmith (LeMoyne) doubled home Michael Piscopo (Northeastern).
Sherrill clawed back with three more in the sixth to cut the lead down to one. After a leadoff single from Nate Eastman (Finger Lakes CC) , Matthew Ederle (Rhode Island) doubled to bring his squad within three.
Tom plated Ederle with an RBI single and then showed off his speed by stealing both second and third base. He scored after a balk on reliever Brian Santangelo (Pennsylvania College of Technology) (2/3 IP, 2 K).
Lincoln Herendeen (McHenry County) recorded the save (1) after striking out two batters in a scoreless seventh.
The Chiefs improved to 2-0 with their game two victory, but would not have gotten there if not for a sparkling performance from pitcher Ryan Clark (North Carolina Greensboro) in game one.
The Chiefs won 7-0 in game one of their doubleheader versus the Sherrill Silversmiths behind a dominant pitching performance from Clark.
“He was phenomenal,” Susaña said. He was throwing well. Like we were saying in the dugout he had ‘the cheese’ today and it was really fun to watch.”
Clark, a reliever in college, started for Syracuse and threw five no-hit innings before finally allowing a double to Eastman. Clark exited the game after throwing six shutout innings and striking out 9 batters.
“I pitched farther than I thought I would,” said Clark, who threw no more than 32 pitches in a game in college this season.
Despite holding the Silversmiths hitless through five, Clark knew his night had to come to an end.
“I know that I wasn’t finishing this game no matter what, so I tried not to think about it,” Clark said of his performance.
Clark started off strong, striking out four batters in the first three innings. However, his offense failed to score early, leaving three men on base in the first two frames.
The Jr. Chiefs were patient at the plate early on and drew a total of three walks in the first two innings against Sherrill starter Payton Logan (Fort Scott CC), but they were unable to capitalize until they exploded for three runs in the game-changing third inning.
Caruso, who got on base five times in the opener (single, 2 walks, two HBP), got things going by pushing a bunt past the pitcher and towards the second baseman. The speedy outfielder beat the throw to the bag and advanced to third on a single Susaña.
Susaña stole second base to put two runners in scoring position with one out and Kenny Hostrander (Eastern Kentucky) (3-4, 2 R, 2 RBI) came up with a big two-run single to put the Jr. Chiefs up 2-0. After an infield single by Pat Wright (LeMoyne) and a strikeout by Connor Mathis (Mt. Union), Garcia came up to the plate with runners on the corner and two outs. He singled in Hostrander and put the Jr. Chiefs up 3-0.
The Jr. Chiefs would strike again in the fourth inning. After a leadoff double by Aaron Pigna (Ave Maria), Syracuse took advantage of back-to-back HBPs to Sinay and Caruso. A sacrifice fly by Susaña gave the Chiefs a 4-0 lead.
The Jr. Chiefs tacked on two more runs in the seventh after Brian Burns (in for DH Noel Garcia) grounder bounced off the glove of Silversmith first baseman Eastman. Hostrander and Wright scored on the play and the Jr. Chiefs went up by six.
Syracuse added their seventh and final run when Hostrander added an RBI single in the eighth.
After Clark exited the game in the seventh, the Jr. Chiefs received three shutout innings from their bullpen. Alan Komorowski (Washington U) pitched a solid seventh inning and struck out two batters. Robert Weller (Pomona-Pitzer College) worked around a walk and struck out two batters in the eighth and Zac Connelly (U of Tampa) hurled a 1-2-3 ninth inning to secure the victory for the Jr. Chiefs.
Between games Jr. Chiefs owner and GM, Mike DiPaulo, received a plaque acknowledging the the club’s 2012 NYCBL Championship.
Syracuse will look to keep their season perfect tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. when they host the Syracuse Salt Cats at Hopkins Field.
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