by Dan Lonky (@danlonky)
ONEONTA, NY – It was a beautiful day to play two on Saturday as the Oneonta Outlaws (14-9) and the Syracuse Salt Cats (12-11) split a twi-night doubleheader at Damaschke Field. Syracuse just barely managed to hold on and win game one 6-5 in extra innings, while Oneonta took game two by a score of 8-4.
Game one was quite the interesting affair that included a total of nine errors, a late-inning comeback, and (technically) extra-inning baseball.
Jake Cryts (Binghamton) started the game for the Outlaws and had a rough go of it, allowing five runs (three earned) on hits hits through 4.2 innings pitched. The Oneonta defense behind him didn’t help either, as they committed three errors while Cryts was on the mound.
Meanwhile, it was Max Schonfeld (Molloy) who dominated on the mound for the Salt Cats, tossing 5.2 quality innings while allowing just an unearned run on only three hits. The right hander was more than deserving of getting his fourth win of the season, but he’d have to settle for a no-decision as poor defense allowed Oneonta to pull out an improbable comeback in the bottom of seventh.
With a relatively comfortable 5-1 lead, Raymond Messner (Ave Maria) came in to try to close things out in the bottom of the seventh. Derek Hirsch (Wofford) reached on an error and eventually scored on a groundout, cutting the deficit to three.
After reaching on a base hit, Howard Joe (Mercer) would come in to score on a Jake Levine (Brown) RBI single to right center. Chris Pindar (Oneonta) would then catch a break as his hard hit ball to the shortstop took a bad hop and got into left field for a base-hit, putting runners on the corners. With two outs, Brian Kraft (Grand Canyon) then stepped up to the plate and hit a weak ground ball to the second baseman, who proceeded to make a poor throw that the first baseman couldn’t handle, putting Kraft, the go-ahead run, on first base.
The bases were now loaded for Oneonta with cleanup hitter Heath Holder (Georgia) coming to the plate. After working a full-count, Holder hit a hard grounder to Syracuse shortstop Bud Morton (Southern). Morton was unable to field the ball cleanly, committing the third Salt Cats error of the inning and allowing both Levine and Pindar to score, tying the game at five. Sean Pisik (Ursinus) would then come in to work out of further trouble and send the game to extra-innings.
In the eighth it was Reid Van Woert (Monmouth) on the mound for the Outlaws. Van Woert had trouble finding the strike zone as he quickly loaded the bases, walking 2 while the other runner reached on what was the Outlaws fourth error of the game. With one out, Van Woert then walked Cristian Fiorito (Concordia), forcing in the go-ahead run. Van Woert then worked out of further trouble, inducing a 6-4-3 double play.
In the end, that one run proved to be enough as Pisik would retire the Outlaws with ease in the bottom of the eighth. Despite committing five errors in total and allowing four unearned runs to score in the seventh, the Salt Cats were able to take game one by a score of 6-5.
The Outlaws would fair much better in game 2 as the offense came up big in a 8-4 victory.
Oneonta starter Alec Romanowski (Stevenson) was able to out-pitch Syracuse starter Mike Rynerson (St John Fisher), who was knocked around for six runs on nine hits over 4.2 innings. Romanowski pitched well enough to earn his first win of the season, while Heath Holder (Georgia) followed him by tossing two hitless innings to earn his first save of the season.
Though on the losing end, Salt Cats right fielder Cristian Fiorito (Concordia) put together a very impressive performance at the dish, going 3-for-4 with three RBIs and two booming triples over the right fielder’s head.
For the Outlaws it was the All-Star Jake Levine (Brown) who continued his success as Oneonta’s leadoff hitter, smacking two triples while driving in two runs and scoring once. Levine now has a league-leading six triples on the season.
Five other Outlaws drove in runs as well as the Oneonta offense continued to do their job at the plate.
With the split, the Outlaws remain alone in second place while the Salt Cats find themselves in fifth in the NYCBL standings.
The Outlaws and Salt Cats will be right back at it tomorrow, July 6th, as they play yet another doubleheader at Damaschke Field starting at 3 PM.
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