By Kathryne Davis
SHERRILL, N.Y. — Marc Iseneker (St. John Fisher) pitched seven scoreless innings, only allowing one hit and striking out five as the Sherrill Silversmiths beat the Syracuse Jr. Chiefs 3-2 in New York State Collegiate Baseball League play at Noyes Park.
The game came down to a thrilling ninth inning. The Silversmiths had a 3-0 lead, but the Jr. Chiefs were threatening to score. Gabe Levanti (Northeastern U) led off the ninth by getting on first after an error by the second baseman. Mark Martin (Bryant U) singled, which led to the tying run being up with no outs. Brian Burns (Ithaca Col) pinch hit and it paid off as he got a single to load the bases. Levanti scored on a wild pitch for the first run for Syracuse. Nate Stemle (Kentucky Wesleyan Col) hit a sacrifice fly, which allowed the Jr. Chiefs to pull within one, as Martin touched home plate.
Zachary Vennaro (Monroe CC) came in for Tyler Clifford (SUNY Brockport) to try to save the game for Sherrill. He got the next two batters out, ending the game for the Silversmiths and extending the winning streak to eight.
“It’s always nice to get a close win,” said Sherrill Head Coach Greg Dombrowski. “It’s great to build confidence.”
Scoring started in the third inning for the Silversmiths when Bryan Baquer (Washington College) led off with a single. Two batters later, Kellen Brown (Florida Atlantic U) made it to first on an error by the first baseman, which allowed Baquer to score.
Syracuse had a chance to score in the top of the sixth, but was denied by a strong throw from Kevin Brice (Pomona-Pitzer Col). Michael Lanza (Bryant U) tried to score for his team, but was tagged out on a close play at the plate. That was as close to scoring as the Jr. Chiefs got until the ninth.
Reid Neal (Florida Atlantic U) led off the sixth inning with a walk. He advanced to second after Brice got out at first. The next batter, Alex Saville (Monroe CC) walked. Christian Triplett (North Carolina Central U) singled, which brought Neal home. Sherrill got its second run of the inning off the bat of Nick Duarte (Siena College). He singled and Saville scored from third. Baquer hit into a double play to end the inning.
Iseneker earned the win for his team. “I think I did good job,” he said. “The team backed me up and did their job.”
Dombrowski praised his starting pitcher. “He did an outstanding job. He’s a kid who has got good movement.”
The Silversmiths had opportunities to add more runs on the board, but had issues with base running. “It could have cost us the game,” said Dombrowski. One of the mistakes came in the fifth inning, when the home team was only up 1-0. Hopkins was caught stealing for the second out of the inning. Later in the game, Bouse was caught stealing between second and third. This was the second out of the inning. The next few batters got on base by getting walked or hitting a single. If Bouse hadn’t got out, the Silversmiths could have done more damage and made the game less of a nail-bitter at the end.
Although the Jr. Chiefs lost, the team took away several positives from this game. “We were able to score off of the bullpen,” said Syracuse Head Coach Chris Haynes. In upcoming games, the goal of the Jr. Chiefs is to work on getting to the starter.
Sherrill (10-4) will go on the road to face the Oneonta Outlaws (4-3) at 7 p.m. at Damaschke Field, while Syracuse (4-8) will face the Cortland Crush (2-5) away at Beaudry Park. That game will start at 5 p.m.
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