By Stephen Borgna
CORTLAND, N.Y.—The Cortland Crush and Oneonta Outlaws split a twinbill (4-2,5-0) Thursday evening in New York Collegiate Baseball League action at Beaudry Park.
Greg Jasek (Clarkson University) appeared to take-up a sizable portion of the spotlight in game two, leading Cortland to a 5-0 victory over Oneonta.
“It just shows what kind of a leader he is,” Cortland Pitching Coach Ted Stenberg said. “He told me he was ready, and I just said ‘hey, don’t tell me; go on out there and show your teammates you’re ready. Put them on your back and lets see what we got’.”
Jasek did just that; throwing four strikeouts and shutting out the defending champion Outlaws.
“I thought it was very exceptional,” Cortland Manager Bill McConnell said, referring to Jasek’s performance.
Jasek tossed 85 pitches in seven innings of work when Chad Moss (Davidson College) came on the mound to close.
Jasek stressed that his team played just as important of a role in getting the job done.
“It was great to see everybody step up,” Jasek said. “Obviously I couldn’t do it by myself. They really stepped up and took it to their (The Outlaw’s) pitchers. It was great to see all the hitters really come together and click.”
No hitter clicked more in game two than Geoffrey Seto (Niagara University), who drove-in 80 percent of the Crush’s runs in the second game with four RBIs.
“It’s a great win,” McConnell said. “It’s nice to play against a team like that and come out with a win.”
Cortland started just as strong in game one—getting on the board right off the bat. Zephan Kash (Mansfield University) hit an RBI double in the first for 1-0 Crush advantage. However, the lead wouldn’t last long.
The Outlaws responded the next inning with a Kyle Brennan (University of Buffalo) two-run bomb for 2-1 lead.
“It was good to see him hit the ball like he did,” Oneonta Head Coach Joe Hughes said.
“I think he’s an exceptional athlete,” McConnell said.
Brennan’s home run was just the boost Oneonta needed to tack on a few more runs. Kody Ruedisili (Wofford College) had an RBI in the fourth, and Jimmy Hand (Northeastern University) had an RBI in the sixth.
The Crush were unable to catch up, limited to two runs from Kash’s RBI double, along with a stolen run from Zachary Racusin (Essex Community College) in the fifth.
On the mound for the Outlaws in game one was Taylor Hicks (University of Georgia), who held the Crush to their only two runs, while getting four strikeouts in the process. Ethan Evanko (Grand Canyon University) relieved for Hicks in the fifth, and sealed the win.
Hughes commended his defense’s resiliency in game one—especially in the first inning—as important to their victory.
“First inning, we’re down 1-0, we got runners on second and third with no outs, and we minimized damage there and just got out of there with one,” Hughes said. “It could have been two, three to nothing in a seven inning game, so I think that was a big point of the game.
The day was neither won nor lost by either team, with both sharing the glory equally throughout the doubleheader. Although the evening concluded looking more like a draw, McConnell gave good reasoning as to why both teams should be satisfied.
“A good split is good for anybody,” McConnell said.
The Crush (5-7) will be traveling to NBT Bank Stadium to take on the Syracuse Jr. Chiefs (5-11) today at 4p.m.
The Outlaws (6-5) will be up against the Syracuse Salt Cats (9-9) at Damaschke Field tonight at 7p.m.
Leave a Reply