By Nick Ristoff
LIVERPOOL, N.Y. — Daniel Fickas (South Carolina Upstate) paced the offense as the Oneonta Outlaws improved to 4-0 with a 9-6 win over the Syracuse Jr. Chiefs in New York Collegiate Baseball League play at Hopkins Road Park, Sunday.
Fickas went 3-5 on the afternoon and ignited a five-run fourth. The Oneonta infielder reached on a single to short when Matt McCann (Fairleigh Dickinson) made a diving stop but Fickas beat the throw to first. With Taylor Jones (North Georgia Col & St U) up Fickas stole one of his three bases on the day.
Jones walked, and then Carson Waln (Wofford College) hit a hard ground ball through the right side of the infield for an RBI single. On a balk by Paul Henshaw (Kenyon Col) Fickas advanced to third base and Jones to second. Subsequently, Kody Ruedisili (Wofford College) dropped down a bunt single that Henshaw bobbled trying to make the barehanded play. The next batter Matt Haggerty (Grand Canyon U) smoked a ground ball to left for a two-run RBI single. Eventually, Bolger chopped right back to Henshaw and got thrown out as Haggerty crossed home plate for an earned run and the last of five scored as the Outlaws led 7-1.
The Outlaws’ starting pitcher Ethan Evanko (Grand Canyon U) held Syracuse without a hit through three innings until Brian Dudek (University of Buffalo) blooped a single over Ben Mauseth’s (Grand Canyon U) head at shortstop. Once Dudek broke the spell, Vinnie Mallaro (U of Buffalo) stepped up to the plate and delivered on a hard-hit double over the right fielder’s head. Mallaro eventually scored on an infield RBI single from Gabe Levanti (Northeastern).
Evanko scattered seven hits over six and two-thirds for the win. He allowed only one runner to score and struck out three batters in his impressive debut win for the Outlaws.
“We’ve seen a lot of good starters so far but once we get into teams’ bullpens we’re able to jump on a couple of relievers,” Jr. Chiefs coach Chris Haynes said about their offensive production in the seventh, eighth, and ninth innings.
Three of the Jr. Chiefs six runs came in the bottom of the seventh inning. With the bases juiced, Brian Burns (Ithaca) and Luke Emling (Villanova) scored when Ryan Roman (Concordia) reached on an error. Carlos Tapia (Siena) capped the inning with a sacrifice fly to left scoring Thomas Cotter (Ave Maria U).
The Outlaws jumped to an early 1-0 lead when their leadoff hitter Cameron Crawford (North Georgia Col & St U) slid into home plate and collided with the Jr. Chiefs catcher Michael Lanza (Bryant). Unfortunately, Crawford dislocated his shoulder on the play and left the game to get an x-ray. Depending on the seriousness of the injury, the Outlaws could have some big shoes to fill offensively. Crawford was hitting .364 on the season.
Syracuse cooled the NYCBL’s leading hitter, Ben Mauseth (Grand Canyon). The sophomore infielder entered play hitting .538. He finished the day with one hit and ran his league-leading RBI total to 10.
“Unless someone has played against him during the regular season it’s tough to kind of know his tendencies,” Haynes said. “We just try to pitch to our strengths… hopefully we try to get him out and if we don’t we just adjust from there.”
Ruedisili and Ramon Osuna Sanchez (College of Charleston) added three hits apiece for Oneonta. .
Paul Henshaw (Kenyon) took the loss. He is 0-2.
Emling and Mallaro added two hits each for Syracuse.
Oneonta puts its unbeaten record on the line when they travel to Cortland (2-2) for a doubleheader on Monday. First pitch at Beaudry Park is scheduled for 5 pm.
The Jr. Chiefs get two days off before visiting Beaudry Park on Wednesday.
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