By Nate Discavage
ONEONTA, N.Y. — With the weather forecasting looking bleak and a storm cell on the horizon, the Oneonta Outlaws and Syracuse JR Chiefs knew they would have to play some quick baseball. League regulations state that in order to be an official game at least five full innings must be completed. 70 minutes and five innings later, the rain came pouring down. After an hour long rain delay, Syracuse emerged the victor 3-2 in New York Collegiate Baseball League action at Damaschke Field.
Zack Zareva (Manhattanville College) earned the win for the JR Chiefs. The southpaw pitched three and two-thirds innings, gave up two runs on three hits, walked three, and registered three strikeouts en route to the victory. Austin Wallace (University of Georgia) allowed three runs (two earned) in two and a third innings pitching while suffering the loss. Thomas Eng (Adrian College) came in as the rain began cascading down to earn the save retiring all three batters he faced.
The Outlaws got off to a good start shutting down the JR Chiefs 1-2-3 in the top of the first. Matt Bolger (University of South Alabama) knocked a one-out triple into the right-center gap, and Ramon Osuna Sanchez (College of Charleston) followed it up with an RBI double to left-center.
Syracuse, however, would not let themselves go down as easily in the second. Vinnie Mallaro (University of Buffalo) singled and Jason Lundy (Fordham University) was hit by a pitch before a balk moved them to second and third with no outs. Matthew Kozuch (Fordham University) proceeded to groundout to first and all seemed well for the Outlaws. Sanchez, the first baseman, noticed Lundy had strayed too far off the bag at second and airmailed his throw over the head of shortstop Ben Mauseth (Grand Canyon University) into the outfield. Mallaro would score on the error before Lundy trotted home following a pass ball one pitch later.
Lundy knocked a seeing-eye RBI-single to left in the top of the third to extend the JR Chiefs’ lead to 3-1. Oneonta replied in the bottom of the inning. Mauseth walked before swiping second and third with ease. Sanchez earned his second RBI of the night with a sac fly to deep center.
By the fourth inning, fans noticed an odd stillness in the air. It was the calm before the storm. Suddenly, in the bottom of the inning, hard winds started to blow and storm clouds were rolling overhead. As the inning came to a close, the rain started to fall.
Determined to make the game official, both teams played through hard winds and rain in the fifth. Almost immediately after Eng had recorded the last out in the fifth, umpire Mike Lum called a rain delay. The delay lasted almost as long as the game before the game was finally called at 9:37.
The Outlaws fell to 4-1 and remain in first place in the Eastern Division. The JR Chiefs earned their third win of the season improving to 3-6. Oneonta hosts the Olean Oilers tomorrow while Syracuse returns home tomorrow to square off with the Hornell Dodgers.
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