Carlino pitches lights out in Salt Cat win

By Alicia Daddario

SYRACUSE, NY — Syracuse Salt Cat pitcher Zach Carlino (Mt. Union) was feeling good and brought his A game in Tuesday’s 7-0 win against the Niagara Power . Carlino’s brilliant outing put him in a category all of his own, as he became the first Salt Cat to throw a complete game shutout in franchise history.

The winning formula for the Salt Cats was timely offense, a stellar pitching performance, and great defense, giving them their third straight win.

Carlino was hot early as he retired the side in the top of the first. His arm was well-rested after having a day and half off due to rain, which helped put strength into his pitching,

“Coming out I felt great going into the game. My arm felt fresh. Felt pretty good and uh showed it on the mound. It was pretty awesome today.”

The Salt Cats struggled a little on offense to start the game facing the Niagara Power’s Zach Uher (SUNY Stony Brook). Anthony Massicci (Canisius) earned a walk and Michael DeCarr (SUNY Cortland) knocked a single into center field to give the Cats an opportunity to strike first. However, the next two batters were retired and two men were left stranded.

Then in the bottom of the second Tucker Starkey (Ave Maria) bombed a triple into the right field corner but failed to score. Coach Mike Martinez reminds his team the importance of taking advantage of runners on the base paths:

“I tell the guys every single day, we try to capitalize with base runners. We don’t want to leave  people on base. And if the score is 1-0, 10-0, or 4-3, 5-4 we still want to capitalize and put runs across the plate. The guys have to hit and they have to hit behind the runner.”

The Salt Cats took the advice of their coach in the bottom of the third inning. Starting things off was Carlos Guzman (Molloy), using his speed to nab an infield single. The next batter, Massicci, reached first base with his second walk of the game. Runners on second and third for DeCarr; he hits a fly ball to right field and gets himself an RBI; scoring is Guzman for the first run of the game. Cleanup hitter Cristian Fiorito (Concordia) hit an RBI double, as Massicci crosses the plate. The Salt Cats scored another run as Starkey cranked a single to the outfield for an RBI. Salt Cats up 3-0.

The Salt Cats weren’t finished. This time, Ben Sawyer (Alvernia), in for the red hot Colton Montgomery (Georgia Coll & St. U), started off the inning with a base hit. Mike Mascari (SUNY Oswego) and  Starkey followed with walks to load the bases. Catcher Kyle Feazell (Louisiana Coll) hit a fly ball to left field. Attempting to tag on the pop fly was Sawyer and upon drawing the throw, he score, as the ball got past the catcher giving the Salt Cats a 4-0 lead. Bud Morton (Southern) in for Tyler Kirwan (UMass of Boston) up to the plate, knocked a two RBI single up the middle, scoring  Mascari and Strakey for the fifth and sixth runs for Syracuse.

Later, in the bottom of the eight, the Salt Cats scored one more as Massicci crossed the plate on a throwing error by the pitcher. This would be the seventh and final run for the Salt Cats on the night.

Carlino took the mound one last time in the top of the ninth in hopes to complete the shutout. This was a new mindset for Carlino, who described what was going through his head in the last inning and giving credit to his teammates behind him,

“Um, I was a little nervous. Honestly that was my first time I had ever gone nine innings with a shutout so that was pretty intense. I mean, just throw strikes and I had a great defense behind me that will do the job.”

Carlino noted that his fastball and change up were his go-to pitches when facing the offense of the Niagara Power. Carlino finished the complete game shutout with four strikeouts, giving up three walks and six hits to the Power.

The Syracuse Salt Cats will look to extend their win streak to four as they  travel to Niagara Falls on Wednesday June 19th in a rematch of Tuesday’s game at 7pm.