By Brianna Case
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Blaise Whitman (Rhode Island) hurled a complete game as the Syracuse Salt Cats recovered for a doubleheader split (5-7/2-1) with the Cortland Crush in New York Collegiate Baseball League action at Onondaga Community College, Sunday.
Following an opening game of a double header against that saw Syracuse surrender five runs and use three relievers, the Salt Cats needed Whitman to log some miles. He did just that, going the full 7.0, allowing just one earned run on five hits and one walk while striking out eight.
For the first game the Crush struck back after losing Friday by three against the Salt Cats. They didn’t give up this time and it showed after they won 7-5 against the Salt Cats.
The game started on a good note when the Crush makes a run right off the bat.
Leadoff hitter Zachary Racusin (Essex CC) walked to start the game, stole second and came around to score on a pair of errors.
The next two innings the Crush scored two more runs waking up the Salt Cats.
In the bottom of the seventh the Salt Cats made their move. Erik Poldroo (Concordia) led with a double and scored one out later on a Zach Raczok (St. Martin U) RBI base hit.
The Crush added another run at the top of the eighth inning.
The Salt Cats scored four runs in the ninth. The Crush end up leading the Salt Cats 7-5.
“Friday’s game we had a wake up when they (Cortland Crush) were catching up and we ended up winning,” said Coach Mike Martinez of the Syracuse Salt Cats. “Today, it took us a first game loss, which we weren’t playing well at all. They outplayed us in the first game and they were better than us.”
Not any wake up call was working during today’s game, but a huge one. The wake up call of being defeated. The Salt Cats weren’t going to end the day with a loss like this so they got together and did what any team that wanted to win would do. They stuck together. With that, they came out with a 2-1 lead over the Crush.
None of this could have been done without someone standing out.
New player to the Salt Cats, Pat Ortland (Siena), just came on the team today only to help with the big lead in the second game.
“Patrick Ortland is a big big plus. You can’t go 55-56 games in two months with two catchers,” Martinez said. “He’s a division one quality catcher that needs to be on the field playing with the rest of the guys.”
Ortland, only a sophomore, arrived just in time from Texas and the college regionals to deliver the the eventual game-winning hit in the bottom of the sixth.
“It feels good to finally be out on the field again after a week off,” Ortland said. “We are pretty good as a team.”
Cortland pushed across a run in the fourth.
Wesley Burghardt (SUNY Brockport) singled and moved to second on a Yale Hughes (West Liberty U) sacrifice bunt. Austin Nogiec (Saginaw Valley St U) delivered with an RBI single.
Poldroo started the decisive rally with a leadoff base on balls. Jon Borchert (Keuka) followed with a one-out single. One out later Matt Mastroianni (SUNY Oneonta) walked to load the bases, and Ortland delivered.
“I’m starting to feel the ball a little more now. I actually haven’t gotten a live at bat in a couple weeks,” Ortland said. “It felt good to see the ball again.”
A good feeling not just for Ortland, but the whole team.
The Salt Cats (4-4) play away tomorrow at five against the Sherrill Silversmiths (3-4).
Contributions made by: Tim Mullhaupht/New York Collegiate Baseball League
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