by Dan Lonky (@danlonky)
ONEONTA, NY — The Oneonta Outlaws (7-6) offense came up huge in Friday night’s 14-7 victory over the Syracuse Jr Chiefs (8-6) in New York Collegiate Baseball League action.
The Outlaws bats were on fire Friday night as they put up 14 runs on 14 hits. Most of the damage was done against Syracuse starter Ryan Clark (North Carolina Greensboro), who came into the game with a league leading 24 strikeouts to go with an impressive 0.47 ERA.
Oneonta was not at all threatened by Clark’s numbers, as they knocked him around for eight runs (six earned) and nine hits over four innings.
The offensive outburst was highlighted by five triples, one from Brandon Stephens (Georgia), and two apiece from Chris Pindar (SUNY Oneonta) and Jake Levine (Brown). The MVP of the game for Oneonta was no doubt Levine, who ended up going 4-for-5 with two runs scored and four RBI.
After being shutout in both games of a doubleheader against the Jr Chiefs Tuesday, head coach Joe Hughes was more than delighted with his team’s offensive explosion.
“We got some early work in today, the kids came down to the batting cages and worked hard and they’re good listeners. Tonight we turned the page and a played a new game and hit the ball extremely well,” said Coach in reference to his team’s great performance at the dish.
Outlaws starter Jake Cryts (Binghamton) was roughed up early for six runs (two earned) in 3.1 innings of work, but reliever Corey Kafka (Mercer) came in to stop the scoring as he’s done quite often this season.
Kafka allowed only one unearned run on three hits while striking out five over 5.2 brilliant innings of relief work. The right hander collected his league leading third win of the season and still has yet to allow an earned run as he leads the league with a perfect 0.00 ERA.
“Corey Kafka is quality pitcher. We have a lot of confidence in him. He’s a gamer with a good fastball, good slider and we’re always happy with him on the mound because he’s usually productive and he was tonight,” Coach Hughes added on his reliever.
Friday nights victory put the Outlaws back over .500 at 7-6 on the season, placing them just two games back of first place.
The Outlaws are off on Saturday but are right back at it Sunday as they hit the road to take on the Syracuse Salt Cats.
Well written article !