By Paul Gotham
GENEVA, NY – The location changed. Time created confusion. There were travel arrangements to be made. The team from out of town hit in the bottom of the inning.
It’s only fitting that a little-known rule took some luster off an otherwise brilliant performance.
Billy Kosachook (Urbana) hurled seven innings of no-hit ball as the Syracuse Jr. Chiefs thumped the Geneva’s Red Wings 8-1 in New York Collegiate Baseball League action at McDonough Park, Tuesday afternoon.
Kosachook struck out four over eight innings and did not allow a baserunner until a leadoff walk in the fifth – his only free pass of the day.
“I was spotting up my fastball today for the first time in a while,” Kosachook said. “I was able to throw my curveball and changeup for strikes, and I was able to keep them off balance.”
The right-hander tossed an efficient 83 pitches, 50 for strikes.
The Syracuse offense which has sputtered at times this season had no problem scoring runs Tuesday. The Jr. Chiefs put runs on the board in six different innings.
“It was great to see us right from the first inning hit the ball,” said Jr. Chiefs head coach Chris Haynes. “It wasn’t home runs and doubles, it was singles. We put the ball in play and took care of situations.”
Connor Mathis (Mt. Union) led the first with a walk off Geneva starter, Adam Brant (SUNY Purchase). After a stolen base, Mathis moved to third when Alex Caruso (St. John’s) reached on an error. With runners on the corners, Mathis scored on a double steal attempt. Caruso was thrown out at second.
Syracuse added a run in the third. Caruso singled to start the stanza and eventually came home on a Stanley Susana (St. Thomas Aquinas) RBI base hit.
The Jr. Chiefs put single runs on the board in the fourth and fifth. Aaron Pigna (Ave Maria) reached on a one-out hit in the fourth. He moved to second on a wild pitch, and Mathis advanced him with a single. Caruso plated the run with a well-executed safety squeeze bunt.
In the fifth, Patrick Wright (Le Moyne) worked a one-out base on balls. Brian Burns (Ithaca) reached out and slapped a two-strike pitch into shallow center. Noel Garcia (Northwood) delivered with an inside-out RBI double down the right field line for a 4-0 lead.
“Right from the first inning we just hit the ball,” Haynes added. “It’s great to get on track.”
The Jr. Chiefs effort was not without added challenges. The game was originally scheduled for Hopkins Road Park in Syracuse, but playing conditions necessitated the change in venue. The Jr. Chiefs met at noon in Syracuse before departing by car for Geneva.
“We didn’t know what was going to come of the day,” Haynes added. “We actually left some guys behind, and they ended up meeting us here.”
One of those players who came later was Kosachook who showed up to the field 40 minutes prior to first pitch.
“I didn’t even know the start of the game time,” Kosachook said with a smile. “I went out for the first inning and was really tired. I didn’t think I was gonna have anything today and poof, a no-hitter through seven.”
“He pounded the zone with strikes,” commented Geneva head coach Ross Trachtenberg. “He kept the batters off-balance. Our guys were out in front of pitches and just got fooled by him.”
Brian Weightman (St. Bonaventure) broke up the no-hitter with a one-out, pinch-hit double in the eighth. Brandon Costa (Concord) put runners on the corners with a single, and Dustin Stuck (Alvernia) brought home Geneva’s only run with a base hit.
The Red Wings loaded the bases, but Haynes stayed with his starter. The first-year head coach made a trip to the mound. The right-hander responded and finished the inning with a strike out and infield pop fly.
“That’ll happen to any pitcher,” Haynes stated. “You work so hard for the whole seven innings before that and not give up a hit. When you do, it’s natural to let down your guard a little bit. I went out. I was planning on leaving him in anyway. I just wanted to ask how he felt. I knew he was going to get out of the jam.”
Geneva had won three of four prior to Tuesday and crept up to third and within two games of first-place Olean. With the loss, the Red Wings fall to 10-9 and are now three and a half games off the pace.
“We need to be in every pitch,” Trachtenberg said. “We need to stay focused and put the effort in. Change of schedule today threw guys off. We’ve got to be better than that. The guys can learn from today and go back out tomorrow. That’s a great thing about the way the league is set up. You play every day.”
Syracuse scored pairs of runs each in the sixth and seventh. The Jr. Chiefs took advantage of two Geneva errors to score in the sixth. Pigna doubled home Garcia and Alan Komorowski (Washington) in the eighth.
It was originally thought that Kosachook’s effort qualified as a no-hitter. Rains came and cleared the field before the end of the eighth. Normally, that means the game reverts back to the end of the last complete inning. The rule states as follows:
It shall be a regulation game if called by the umpires at any time after five innings have been completed, and the score shall be that of the last equal inning played, except that in the following circumstances the score of the game shall be the total number of runs that each team has scored:
(1) If the team second at bat has scored more runs at the end of its fourth inning than the team first at bat has scored in five completed innings;
(2) If the team second at bat has scored in an unequal number of innings more runs than the team first at bat; or
(3) If the team second at bat is at bat when the game is called and has scored in the incomplete inning the same number of runs or more runs than the team first at bat.
Syracuse had outscored Geneva’s fifth at bat by the end of its fourth time at the plate.
A pair of hitting streaks ended on Tuesday. Geneva’s Andrew Gronski (Case Western Reserve) had hit safely in all 13 games he has played for the Red Wings. He went 0-for-3 on the afternoon.
Syracuse’s Kenny Hostrander (Eastern Kentucky) saw his 11-game streak end with a 0-for-5 outing.
The Jr. Chiefs (11-9) take on the Syracuse Salt Cats (10-8) next. A 1 p.m. first pitch is scheduled at Rockwell Field on the campus of Le Moyne College.
Geneva travels to Rochester to take on the Ridgemen. A 7 p.m. first pitch is slated at basket Road Field.
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