By Kyle Conklin
GENEVA, NY — At McDonough Park the Syracuse Jr. Chiefs defeated the Geneva Red Wings by a score of 9-4. The Chiefs were led on the mound by Ryan Clark (UNC Greensboro) who pitched six strong innings allowing just three hits and one earned run. The Wings were plagued by shaky defense all night and ultimately paid the price as the Chiefs capitalized on nearly every opportunity.
The scoring got started for the Jr. Chiefs in the fourth inning as they loaded the bases against Red Wing starter Nick Myers (St. Michael’s College). With the bases full Gabe Levanti (Virginia Tech) grounded out to plate the first run of the game. Myers however would get the next two batters to ground out to end the inning without any further damage.
Syracuse struck again in the top of the next inning off Red Wing reliever Robert Grippo (Bergen CC). After a fly out to start the inning the next three Chiefs reached to load the bases again. This time Geneva was not so lucky. Stanley Susana (St. Thomas Aquinas) worked a walk to force in Nicholas Sinay (University of Buffalo) from third to plate Syracuse’s second run of the game. A sacrifice fly by Aaron Pigna (Ave Maria) and an RBI single by Gabe Levanti would give the Jr. Chiefs a 4-0 lead by the end of the fifth inning.
The Wings finally got on the board in the bottom of the sixth. With two outs Lee Miller ( Davidson College) scored Casey Fox (Haverford College) on an RBI triple to deep center field and scored himself after the throw from the right fielder was ruled out of play. Geneva however could not hold the score there, giving up two runs in the next inning on a two out RBI double by Gabe Levanti to make the score 6-2 Jr. Chiefs.
The Wings responded in the bottom of the eighth plating two runs in the inning cutting the lead back down to two. Zak Worsley (North Park University) scored the first run of the inning after a leadoff single. He later stole second base and eventually scored on a sacrifice fly by Lee Miller. This was followed by a two out double by Andrew Gronski (Case Western Reserve) who scored on an RBI single by Kenneth Rabin (Pomona-Pitzer College).
The Jr. Chiefs tacked on three more runs in the top of the ninth thanks to some shaky defense by the Red Wings and RBI’s from Stanley Susana , Patrick Wright (Le Moyne College), and Gary Jones (University of Delaware). The Wings failed to mount any sort of comeback in the home half of the ninth as they were retired in order by Syracuse reliever Zac Connelly (University of Tampa).
With the win the Syracuse Jr. Chiefs improve to 5-3 on the season as the Geneva Red Wings fall to 1-2. The Wings are back in action Father’s Day at 5:00 at McDonough Park to take on the Oneonta Outlaws.
Go Wingsss