By Nick Ristoff
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Matt McCann (Fairleigh Dickinson) went 2-4 with two RBI as the Syracuse Jr. Chiefs defeated the Hornell Dodgers, 5-3 Saturday night in a New York Collegiate Baseball League game at Onondaga Community College.
“With a wood bat you want to be aggressive and take aggressive swings, you don’t want to get beat with peoples off speed or their fastball,” McCann said.
The Jr. Chiefs took the early lead in the third inning. Hornell starter Connor Grey (St. Bonaventure) walked the leadoff man Thomas Cotter (Ave Maria U). Cotter advanced safely to second base on a ground out to the first baseman by Spencer Scorza (Cornell). Cotter stole third base on a 2-2 count, and Brian Dudek (U of Buffalo) walked. Cotter scored the game’s first run on a Nate Stemle (Kentucky Wesleyan) sacrifice fly to shallow left field.
The Dodgers tied the score 1-1 in the top of the fifth inning. Brandon Sandoval (Vanguard U) took a second pitch fastball and lined it to the center field gap for a base hit and then stole second with Thaddeus Johnson (St. Bonaventure) at the plate. Johnson walked, and then they both advanced on a Shawn Kanwisher (Manhattan Col) wild pitch. Sandoval scored when Scorza chopped a ground ball right to Nate Stemle at shortstop.
Despite Kanwisher’s wild pitch and giving up a run in the fifth inning he had a great day. The right-hander pitched six innings, had four strikeouts, allowed just 4 hits, and only 1 run scored.
“My fastball was good, I started finding the slider which really helped a lot…I located my fastball and went from there,” Kanwisher said about his ability to pick spots in the zone.
The Syracuse Jr. Chiefs tacked four runs on the board in the sixth inning and that was enough to ride out the victory.
Connor Grey walked Vinnie Mallaro (Buffalo) and Jason Lundy (Fordham) to start the sixth. They both advanced on a wild pitch. Matthew Kozuch (Fordham) struck out swinging. Luke Emling (Villanova) took the second pitch by Grey and bunted down the first base line, Mallaro scored, Lundy advanced to third and Emling was safe on first. Emling advanced to second on a passed ball. Grey walked Cooper Belyea (Ithaca) and then Roberto Johnson (Vanguard) relieved Grey on the mound. McCann stepped up to the plate and delivered a base hit over Scorza’s head at first base. Lundy and Emling scored and the throw to the plate was over Jimmy Latona’s (Monroe CC) head and Belyea crossed home plate for a 5-1 Jr. Chiefs lead.
The Hornell Dodgers ended up putting a run on the board in both the eighth and ninth innings but their late game run fell short. John Bednarek (St. Thomas Aquinas), Marshall Clutter (Ave Maria) and Tommy Eng (Adrian Col) all pitched one inning for the Jr. Chiefs. Bednarek had a strikeout and allowed a hit in the seventh. Clutter gave up a run on one hit in the eighth inning. Eng came in to close the game out in the ninth.
Thaddeus Johnson (St. Bonaventure) led Hornell going 3-3 at the plate.
Stemle went 2-2 with an RBI. Emling and Lundy both had a hit and scored a run.
“We’re a couple of games under .500 so its always nice to chip away at that, the first step is to get back to .500 and then go from there,” Jr. Chiefs coach Chris Haynes said.
The Jr. Chiefs have now strung together back-to-back wins.
“It’s important to get off to a good start but it’s not vital, it’s not going to kill us. At some point we need to make a run and win some games in a row and hopefully put ourselves in a playoff spot.” Coach Chris Haynes said.
The Jr. Chiefs (4-6) are right back in action Sunday night at 6:30. They are facing off against the Geneva Redwings (5-5) at NBT stadium, home of the Triple-A Chiefs who are currently the developmental team for the Washington Nationals.
Hornell (10-3) hosts Niagara (8-2) for a 5 p.m. start at Maple City Park.
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