By Stephen Borgna
CORTLAND, N.Y.—The Rochester Ridgemen beat the Cortland Crush 7-6 in thrilling New York Collegiate Baseball League action at Beaudry Park, Friday evening. The game was the first time both franchises met in their history.
The Ridgemen and Crush juggled the lead back-and-forth throughout.
“It was pretty crazy,” Rochester Manager Brady James said. “No lead felt comfortable here.”
“No lead was super-comfortable.”
The Ridgemen started things off early. Ethan Luna (Southwestern) poked an RBI single to right in the first to put the Ridgemen on the board.
Cortland promptly answered the bottom-half of the inning, putting up three runs to Rochester’s one. Yale Hughes (West Liberty) hit an RBI double to center to tie-it-up. Zephan Kash (Mansfield) followed-up with an RBI single, turning the tables with an early Crush lead. Alex Lind (Lake Erie) padded the score with a sacrifice fly to right, sending Hughes home.
“The lineup delivered when we had to,” Cortland manager Bill McConnell said.
The Ridgemen began chipping-away at the deficit after three scoreless innings.
Alex Storaci (Blue Mountain CC) plated one in the fifth with an RBI single. The Ridgemen then tied-it-up in the sixth with an Andy Santana (Geneva) RBI single. Alexander Mumm (Judson) retook the lead for Rochester with a two RBI double in the same inning.
“We were able to get some big hits,” James said. “That’s something we haven’t been able to do consistently all year.”
The Crush struck back immediately in the seventh. After back-to-back singles from Zachary Racusin (Essex CC) and Geoffrey Seto (Niagara), an RBI single by Hughes and subsequent sacrifice fly by Kash tied-it-up for the second time.
The game remained tense until the ninth. After the Crush intentionally walked Luna, the two teams would switch leads for the final time after Matt Emge (Ohio State) hit a clutch RBI single up the middle.
“Having had a chance, you know, had guys in scoring position early in the game and just wasn’t able to come through,” Emge said. “Had a chance in the ninth and was able to come through. It felt fantastic.”
“They just walked Luna—they walked one all-star to get to another, kind of rolled the dice a little bit,” James said. “Fortunately, Matt was able to make it hurt a little bit.”
The Ridgemen padded their lead in the same inning when Luna scored.
Starting on the hill for the Ridgemen was ace Jacob Chipka (Hope), who is tied for the league’s second-most wins this season with five.
“Any time Chipka gives us a start, you feel very confident going in that he’s going to compete and give you five, six, maybe seven innings to work with,” James said.
The 6-1 right-hander gave Rochester a solid six, striking out four and walking three. Jackson Sigman (Glendale CC) relieved him in the seventh, tossing two strikeouts in the same inning.
“He’s been pretty much money all year,” James said about Sigman. “He comes in and throws strikes.”
Colton Roberts (Toccoa Falls) closed for the Ridgemen, and held off a Cortland rally.
“Any time you hand it to Roberts in the ninth, you feel pretty good about it,” James said. “But of course, it got dicey with the Crush.”
The Crush made things interesting in the ninth, coming within inches of tying the Ridgemen.
Racusin worked a leadoff walk. Hughes singled, and the two executed a double steal.
With one out, man on second and third, Kash hit his second sac-fly of the night, sending Racusin home. Hughes—the tying run—was on second.
Cortland was unable to tie the game.
“We kept the battle up,” McConnell said. “A lot of pitches until the end and then we started hitting there, but we waited too long tonight. But, we got on top early and battled.”
“You got to tip your hat to the Crush, because they’re stinkin’ scrappy,” James said. “They smoked the ball all over the place. Baseball’s weird. They probably hit more balls hard than we did, but they turned into outs.”
Cortland’s defense turned four double plays on the night.
Racusin had three hits for Cortland—two doubles in the first and fifth, and a single in the seventh.
Hughes led the Crush with four hits—an RBI double in the first and a double in the fifth, followed by an RBI single in the seventh and finished with two RBI.
Kash finished with three RBI on a single and two sacrifice flies.
Chris Kwitzer (Buffalo) singled in the first and sixth for Cortland.
Will Bass (New Mexico JC) and Storaci both led Rochester with three hits apiece. Storaci doubled in the sixth.
Luna had an RBI single in the first, and a double in the seventh.
Emge had a single in the sixth and an RBI single in the ninth.
Mumm doubled in a pair in the sixth.
A rematch between the Crush (11-22) and the Ridgemen (18-15) will take place Saturday at Basket Rd. Field. A 7 p.m. first pitch is scheduled.
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