By CODY LOVE
SYRACUSE, N.Y — The NYCBL’s Battle of Syracuse is a stalemate to begin the season after the Salt Cats avenged their Opening Day loss to the Jr. Chiefs.
Matt Mastroianni (SUNY Oneonta) scored the winning run in the bottom of the sixth as the Syracuse Salt Cats came from behind to defeat the Syracuse Jr. Chiefs in New York Collegiate Baseball League action at Onondaga Stadium on the campus of Onondaga Community College, Tuesday afternoon.
The league’s two Syracuse teams started the season with a “home-and-home” series, switching home and visitor designations at the park they both call home. After only plating one run in Monday’s opener, the Salt Cats looked stronger at the plate and on the base paths in their turn to host.
“We were a little bit more aggressive offensively today,” Salt Cats manager Mike Martinez said. “We were swinging more today, and we made some more hard contacts. Fortunately we came out on top.”
The Salt Cats took a 1-0 lead in the third on an RBI single by Anthony Galanoudis (Molloy), but struggled to score otherwise in the early part of the game.
Their starter, Cory Vogeli (Misericordia), kept the Jr. Chiefs off the scoreboard in the first four innings, but he left the game after seeing the bases loaded in the fifth.
Joe Boland (St. Thomas Aquinas) then hit a single off Doug Elser (Concordia) that scored two runs and gave the Jr. Chiefs the lead. With starter Cory Poplawksi (Salve Regina) keeping the Salt Cats from adding any more runs through the first five innings, a sixth-inning insurance run left the Salt Cats in a two-run deficit.
They responded by loading the bases and chasing Poplowski in favor of Matthew Wood (Salve Regina), mirroring what happened to Vogeli in the fourth.
This time it was Chris McGee’s (Binghamton) 2-RBI single that tied the game at three. With runners at the corners, the Salt Cats then used smart baserunning to take the lead.
A pickoff throw to first sent McGee running for second. When the ball was thrown there, Mastroianni took off for home and scored the go-ahead run.
“I was waiting for the lefty to throw a pickoff over there and try to get a good jump,” Mastroianni said, “I knew I had a chance to score if he threw the ball over to second, it’s a hard throw to make. So, I was happy to make it in there.”
The Salt Cats bullpen kept the Jr. Chiefs silent the rest of the way, with Elser ending up with the win, and Cameron Jack picking up a save.
“We want to come out and get a win and save a win,” Martinez said, “They came out and did their job.”
The Jr. Chiefs had opportunities to score more runs, but they had trouble moving their men on base.
“We stranded 12 guys yesterday, we stranded 10 more today,” manager Matt Colbert said, “These guys are good enough and we need them to score more runs.”
Still, these teams have had very little time to practice together before starting the season, and the role of each player is unclear. There were still positives for the Jr. Chiefs from this close, early-season game.
“I thought our pitching was really good,” Colbert said, “The pitching staff was probably our biggest success today.
The Salt Cats (1-1) play their next game on the road, facing the Sherrill Silversmiths at Noyes Park on Wednesday at 5:00. The Jr. Chiefs (1-1) will stay at Onondaga Stadium and host the Geneva Red Wings at noon on Wednesday.
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