By Zach Gewelb
SYRACUSE, NY — Hanging on to their playoff lives, the Syracuse Jr. Chiefs rode their hot bats to victory on Sunday, taking two seven-inning games against the Sherrill Silversmiths (7-3/10-3) in New York Collegiate Baseball League action at Hopkins Road Park.
“We played with a sense of urgency, “Jr. Chiefs manager Chris Haynes said. “We talked about it before the game(s). We knew if we could win two of our next three, we’d have a really good shot to make it (to the playoffs).”
With plenty of run support, the Jr. Chiefs cruised to victory in game one behind a complete game effort from Billy Kosachook (Urbana U) before exploding for ten runs in a game two win.
Shortly after their game one victory, the Jr. Chiefs sent Elvin Jorge (Keystone Col) to the mound for game two. Jorge ran into some trouble right away after allowing the first two batters to reach base.
The stage was set for the Silversmiths number-three hitter Skyler Geissenger (Southern Illinois U Edwardsville), who put his team on the board with an RBI single to right field.
One batter later, Ka’ai Tom (Ft Scott CC) drove in the second run of the game with a run-scoring groundout to second. Matthew Ederle (Rhode Island U of) then legged out an infield single, which brought home Geissinger and increased Sherrill’s lead to three.
The Jr. Chiefs managed to cut the deficit to two in the bottom of the first when leadoff man Nicholas Sinay (Buffalo U of) got things going. He led off with a sharp single up the middle and advanced to second base when the center fielder misplayed the ball.
With Alex Caruso (St Johns U) at the plate, Sinay took off for third, and Caruso lined Kevin Carpenter’s (Finger Lakes CC) pitch to left. Sinay scored on the hit-and-run, and the Jr. Chiefs trailed 3-1.
Jorge settled down after his rough start and kept the Sherrill bats at bay for the next three innings. In the bottom of the fourth, the Jr. Chiefs trimmed the Silversmith lead to one.
Stanley Susana (St Thomas Aquinas Col) led off the inning with a single and advanced to second after a sacrifice bunt from Connor Mathis (Mt Union Col). After the successful sacrifice, Susana came around to score on Brian Burns’ (Ithaca Col) opposite field single to left.
Only down 3-2, Haynes chose to take Jorge (4 IP, 3 R, 2 H, 3 BB, 5 K) out and turned to lefty reliever Patrick Merryweather to keep Sherrill’s bats quiet. He pitched a scoreless fifth and set the stage for Syracuse to take control of the game in the bottom half of the inning.
The Jr. Chiefs sent eight batters to the plate in the inning, but didn’t start their rally until a one-out double from Sinay. Aaron Pigna (Ave Maria U) grounded out to short, but two straight walks from new Sherrill pitcher Payton Logan (Ft Scott CC) loaded the bases for Mathis.
Mathis seemed like he would walk, too, after getting ahead in the count 3-0, but took two pitches for strikes en route to a full count. Mathis came through in dramatic fashion for the Jr. Chiefs, as he drilled a ball in to the outfield and plated all three base runners, giving Syracuse a 5-3 lead that they would never relinquish.
“That was a great at-bat,” Haynes said. “Especially with two outs; he was up 3-0 and then fell in to a full count, just kept battling and put the ball in play and it fell in for us. It was a great at-bat.”
Robert Weller (Pomona-Pitzer Col), in for Merryweather, kept Sherrill scoreless in the top of the fifth and Syracuse exploded for a five-run inning in the bottom half of the inning.
The Jr. Chiefs batted around in the inning, with John Cialone (Villanova U), Gabe Levanti (Virginia Tech U), Alan Komorowski (Washington U), Pigna and Susana all scoring.
Reliever Zac Connelly (Tampa U of) pitched around a two-out double and secured the second victory of the day for the Jr. Chiefs.
The Jr. Chiefs jumped ahead early in game one, scoring three runs in the first en route to a 7-3 victory.
Sinay led off the inning with a bloop single to centerfield and stole second to put himself in scoring position for Caruso. Sinay advanced to third on Caruso’s sacrifice bunt and crossed the plate after Geissinger couldn’t handle Pigna’s sharply hit grounder to short.
Pigna was caught stealing for the second out, but the Jr. Chiefs rallied to load the bases for Pat Wright (Le Moyne Col), who grounded to third. Connor Breslin (Maryland Eastern Shore U of) made a bad throw, which allowed two runs to score, increasing the Jr. Chiefs lead to three.
Sherrill responded the next inning with a run of their own. Ederle doubled down the left field line, and advanced to third after a passed ball. Josh Griffith (Ft Scott CC) drilled a fly ball to right field, deep enough for Ederle to score. The sacrifice fly gave the Silversmiths their first run of the game, but they still trailed 3-1.
The Jr. Chiefs managed to get that run back, and more, in a two-run inning in the bottom of the second.
Sinay was drilled on the right arm but Sherrill starter Edward Zakrzewski (Mohawk Valley CC) with one out and advanced to third on Caruso’s hit-and-run single to right field.
Pigna drove in Sinay with an RBI single up the middle and Mathis walked to load the bases for Noel Garcia, who was hit by a Zakrzewski pitch and drove in run. The Jr. Chiefs had a 5-1 lead, but Sherrill managed to stay in the game against Kosachook.
The Silversmiths added two in the top of the fourth to cut the Jr. Chiefs lead down to two. Griffith led off with a double down the left field line and Breslin followed with a walk.
After a sacrifice bunt, Griffith scored on an RBI groundout by Mark Sherlock (Marywood U) and Breslin would score one batter later when Andre Kashou (Tampa U of) drilled a single to right field.
Kosachook settled down after the fourth and shut the Silversmith’s offense down the rest of the game.
The Jr. Chiefs added two-more insurance runs thanks to RBI singles from pinch-hitter Cialone and catcher Noel Garcia (Northwood U), but Kosachook would not need them.
He went the distance and recorded the complete game victory, while tallying two strikeouts and allowing only three runs and five hits. Kosachook needed only 88 pitches to complete the game and managed to give the Jr. Chiefs bullpen a break.
“He was awesome,” Haynes said. “Our bullpen has been short lately and I thought he pitched awesome and gave us a chance to rest our bullpen.”
Kosachook’s complete game gem came at a time when the Jr. Chiefs were fighting for their playoff lives. His performance not only secured the victory in game one, but also set the tone for the eventual game two win.
“I felt good today,” Kosachook said. “Everything was working, I was throwing strikes and I was able to do what I wanted to do.”
Kosachook did not let the added pressure of playoff implications get to him, even if he thought about it before the game.
“I thought about it (the playoff implications of the game) a little bit,” Kosachook said. “But, to me, it was just another game.”
The two victories improve the Jr. Chiefs record to 22-17 and keep them very much alive in the race for playoff positioning. The Silversmiths, already eliminated from playoff contention, fall to 16-24 to end their season.
The Jr. Chiefs have one regular season game remaining and will play Monday night in Le Moyne against their inner-city rivals, the Syracuse Salt Cats (19-17). The two rivals will jockey for playoff seeding and the Jr. Chiefs will be ready to play.
“We’re definitely going to play to win tomorrow,” Haynes said. “Any team would like to go in to the playoffs with a winning streak.”
First pitch is scheduled for 5:00 p.m.
Leave a Reply