By Sonny Goldbaum
SYRACUSE, NY — It was a beautiful day for baseball today at LeMoyne, as the rain had finally ceased. The Syracuse Salt Cats played host to a doubleheader matchup against the Oneonta Outlaws.
In Game 1, Syracuse came out with the lead after one inning of play off a Cristian Fiorito RBI putout. The Cats would never look back. They tack on two more runs in the third, as Fiorito comes through again with an RBI single. The second run came across off a Tucker Starkey sac-fly, giving Syracuse a 2-0 lead.
But Syracuse was far from done. The following inning, they score four more runs. Following a Anthony Massicci RBI putout, Michael DeCarr bombed one over the fence to bring across three more runs. This was DeCarr’s first long ball of the season and also the team’s first in 2013. This gives the Salt Cats a commanding 7-0 lead.
Things got a little shaky on defense in the top of the 6th, as Oneonta notches on five runs of their own. Syracuse made two errors on defense, but still managed to hang on to their lead. Syracuse would go on to win by a final score of 7-5, maintaining its perfect record, which now stands at 4 wins 0 losses.
Game 2 was a little bit of a different story for the Salt Cats, who put forth a valiant effort. But they unfortunately fell just short late in the game. This was a heartbreaking loss, which gave Syracuse its first official loss on the season.
Right out of the gates, Oneonta scores off of a sacrifice fly. Syracuse quickly counters back with a run of its own. Mike Massicci gets on and puts himself into scoring position by stealing second. Adding to his impressive performance in Game 1, it is DeCarr who comes through, again, with the RBI single. Score is knotted up at 1 a piece.
Bottom second now, and it is Syracuse who strikes again off the Mike Massicci 2 RBI single, reinforcing the Cats lead to 3-1.
Jumping ahead to the fifth, Zach Carlino hits an RBI single. Two batters later, a passed ball allows Cristian Fiorito to score from third. Cats are now in the drivers seat of a 5-1 score.
But it is yet another late Oneonta rally which gets the best of the Cats this time around. Through a couple singles and a Syracuse mistake on defense, Oneonta comes out in the 6th and quickly scores four. All of a sudden, the score is now tied at 5.
More Outlaw hits in the 7th provided just enough for them to take the lead by one. The score, now 6-5, was all the Outlaws would need to hang on to win. Things got a bit hopeful for Syracuse in the bottom half of the final inning when Cristian Fiorito hit a double and advanced to third base. Nobody could bring him home and Syracuse gets its first official loss on the season, moving to 4-1 on the year. The Salt Cats will look to avenge their loss tomorrow night in the rubber match series finale against Oneonta, at LeMoyne.
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