By PAT McGLYNN
SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Behind a dominating pitching performance from Cory Poplawski (Salve Regina), the Syracuse Jr. Chiefs cruised to a 6-0 win over the Sherrill Silversmiths on Monday night at Onondaga Community College.
The Jr. Chiefs have now won three games in a row and hold first place in the Eastern Division with a 5-2 record while Sherrill falls to 1-6 on the young season.
In his second start of the season, Poplawski finished with a final line of seven shutout innings pitched, allowing only five hits and racking up an impressive 10 strikeouts.
“He was awesome today,” said manager Matt Colbert of Poplawski. “He was effective all day and we expect that from him. He’s our number two guy in the rotation for a reason.”
After the first two Silversmiths reached base, Poplawski retired 17 of the next 19 batters he faced. He finished his night with a flourish when he notched his 10th strikeout to leave the bases loaded in the top of the seventh.
“He was locating his pitches today,” Colbert added. “His change-up was amazing. A majority of his strike outs came off that change-up.”
For the first few innings, Sherrill starter Mitch Cavanagh (St. Johns) matched Poplawski pitch for pitch. Cavanagh fanned five of the first seven Jr. Chiefs he faced and did not give up a hit in the first three innings.
However, in the fourth inning, the Jr. Chiefs broke through. With runners on second and third and two outs, Michael Elfreth (Widener) knocked a double down the left field line to bring two Jr. Chiefs home. Two batters later, Elfreth scored when Samuel Ellinwood (Amherst) reached on an error.
The Chiefs added more runs in the bottom of the fifth. Justin Healey (Widener) led off the frame with a triple to deep right field, and after a walk to Malik Fogg (Tompkins Cortland CC), Cavanagh was replaced by Bryan McGuire (Utica). McGuire was greeted rudely by Shane Trevino (IPFW) who continued his hot hitting with a single through the right side that scored Healey to make the score 4-0. Brian Colbert (Keuka) followed Trevino with a walk to load the bases without any outs. McGuire would settle in though, and although a sacrifice fly from Elfreth drove in Trevino, that would be all the Jr. Chiefs got as McGuire was able to limit the damage.
“Trevino’s really hitting the ball well, he’s a hard out,” Colbert said. “All guys that had a good weekend came into today and continued hitting the ball well.”
Sherrill had a chance to get back into the game in the top of the seventh. Luke Brust (Monroe CC), Adam Nell (Herkimer County CC), and Mitch Sloan (Ft Scott CC) hit three consecutive one-out singles to load the bases.
“We’re getting some line drives,” said Sherrill manager Jason Bjork. “They’re being caught. Right now we’re trying to get in with the process and stay with the process.”
However, Poplawski got Kevin Jordan (Pomona-Pitzer) to pop out and then struck out Tim Corapi (Le Moyne) to end the inning without allowing a run.
“My changeup was really good, that’s what I got most of my strikeouts on,” said Poplawski. “In the seventh inning, I just had to bear down and keep the game scoreless.”
The Jr. Chiefs tacked on one more run in their half of the seventh when Fogg scored on a wild pitch. That would be the last run of the game.
One day after racking 18 hits, Syracuse managed just six against Sherrill. But the Jr. Chiefs worked seven base on balls.
“Overall, I thought offensively our approach was great,” Colbert noted. “I thought we were extremely patient at the plate…We got on base. We did a good job generating runs.”
Cavanagh pitched four innings and allowed three earned runs on three hits and five strike outs. McGuire threw three frames and allowed two earned runs on three hits with three punch outs of his own.
“Bryan McGuire made some adjustments in the last outing,” Bjork noted. “He got a little more jump off the fastball. He’s got a little more jump than he did.”
Finally, Michael-Patrick Buckley (Seton Hill) three the final inning and did not allow a hit.
On the Jr. Chiefs side, Matthew Wood (Salve Regina) and Ryan Delgado (Corning CC) pitched one inning apiece and neither allowed a hit, with Delgado ringing up two strike outs.
Trevino went 2-4 and picked up an RBI along with scoring two runs. Elfreth knocked in three runs and Brian Colbert walked in all three of his at-bats with both of them scoring a run. Zach Taylor (Haverford) had two of Sherrill’s five hits, with his double the only extra base hit for the Silversmiths.
The Jr Chiefs will play host to the Geneva Red Wings tomorrow for a 7:00 pm game at Onondaga Community College while the Silversmiths will return to action on Wednesday when they host the Oneonta Outlaws for a 5:00 pm game at Noyes Park.
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