By Zach Gewelb
SYRACUSE, NY — The Syracuse Jr. Chiefs were unable to recover from early back-to-back errors and dropped their first decision of the season in a close 4-3 game against the Syracuse Salt Cats in New York Collegiate Baseball League action at Hopkins Road Park, Tuesday afternoon.
The Salt Cats got off to a quick start in the first inning against Jr. Chiefs starter Sam Clarke (North Carolina Greensboro).
Leadoff man Carlos Guzman (Molloy Col) opened the game up with a double and moved to third after shortstop Bud Morton (Southern U A) legged out an infield single.
With runners on the corners and no one out, number three hitter Michael DeCarr (SUNY Cortland) plated Guzman with a sacrifice fly. Clarke was able to get out of the inning unscathed, but ran in to more trouble in the second inning.
Catcher Kyle Feazell (Louisiana Col) reached base on an error by Jr. Chiefs third baseman Stanley Susana (St. Thomas Aquinas Col) to lead off the inning. Clarke put himself into more trouble after committing an error of his own after botching Zach Carlino’s (Mt. Union Col) bunt attempt.
With runners again at the corners, the Salt Cats received another sacrifice fly, this time by outfielder Tucker Starkey (Ave Maria U). The Salt Cats weren’t done there, as they tacked on a third run after an RBI single by Tyler Kirwan (Massachusetts Boston (U of)).
“We just had some unfortunate bounces. Hopkins Road (Field) isn’t exactly the smoothest surface to play on, but we’re not making any excuses,” manager Chris Haynes said.
“Every team is going to have some bad bounces and some bad luck, but other than that, I thought I did pretty well,” Clarke said.
The Jr. Chiefs began to claw back in the fourth with a two out rally against Salt Cats starter Max Schonfeld (Molloy Col) when Kenny Hostrander (Eastern Kentucky U) doubled to right. Pat Wright (Le Moyne Col) followed with a single and Connor Mathis (Mt. Union Col) drove in Hostrander when his grounder inched past second baseman Kirwan and into right field.
The Jr. Chiefs tied the game in the fifth inning after a leadoff walk to number nine hitter Aaron Pigna (Ave Maria U). Pigna stole second and scored on Nicholas Sinay’s (Buffalo (U of)) double. Alex Caruso (St. Johns U) reached on a bunt single and Susana drove in Sinay with an RBI single to right and the Jr. Chiefs knotted up the score at 3-3.
The tie was short-lived, however, as Clarke (L, 7 IP 4 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 5 K) gave the Salt Cats the lead back in the sixth when DeCarr scored on a sacrifice fly from Cristian Fiorito (Concordia Col).
With a 4-3 lead, the Salt Cats took out Schonfeld (5 1P, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER 1 BB, 2 K) turned to their bullpen to secure the victory. Righty Connor Nolan (Le Moyne Col) pitched himself out of a bases loaded jam with one out in the seventh when he retired the Jr. Chiefs four and five hitters in order. He induced Hostrander to ground into a fielder’s choice and forced Wright to fly out to center field.
“We didn’t get timely hits today,” Haynes said. “Their pitcher (Schonfeld) did a great job against us and kept us off balance with some off-speed pitches.,”
Clarke exited after seven innings and gave way to relievers Mike Bittel (Seton Hill U) and Austin Munn (Ave Maria U).
“I think in the first inning or so I was a little flustered,” Clarke said. “Other than that I was okay. Every team is going to have some bad bounces and some bad luck, but other than that, I thought I did pretty well.”
Nolan returned to pitch a scoreless eighth for the Salt Cats and gave way to lefty Zach Tucker (Le Moyne Col) in the ninth. After allowing a leadoff single to Pigna, he retired the Jr. Chiefs in order to shut the door and secure the 4-3 victory for the Salt Cats.
The loss drops the Jr. Chiefs to 2-1 on the season, but the squad will get a chance for revenge when they travel to Falcon Park to take on the Salt Cats, Friday night. A 6:30 p.m. first pitch is scheduled.
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